X-Men Revolutions
by a0040pc
Summary: A new X-Men series set in the year 1983. Join Cyclops, Wolverine, Beast, Ice-Man, Jean Grey, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat and Forge as they fight for a world that fears and hates them. Danger lurks around almost every corner from the terrifying to the downright bizarre.
1. Volume 1: The Times They Are Changing

On the outside 1407 Graymalkin Lane Salem Centre seemed like any other mansion. The ground had been owned by the Xavier family for many generations but in recent years it had been turned into a school for gifted youngsters. Its current owner Professor Charles Xavier had turned it into a school since he lost the use of his legs after a trip to the Himalayas. Not many of the locals knew what happened inside the school but many of them turned a blind eye. There were several rumours circulating about this school, some say that it was a government funded school and others said that it was a school for freaks. Even the mailman was nervous whenever he stepped on the ground.

The inside of the school looked more like a home for a rich Hollywood movie star. But if you looked around you would notice classrooms, dormitories, library, indoor swimming pool and even a computer room. Since the year is 1983 the computers were not as hi-tech as they could have been. They were like large boxes with a keyboard and a mouse at the end of them. But the price of each one would cost the average man a year's wages.

Outside the school was a tennis court, basketball court and a large patch of grass that was used for sports like football and soccer. There was even a garden that someone had taken a lot of care in maintaining.

For all the size and majesty of the grounds there were eight people who called it home. These included Professor Charles Xavier the owner and headmaster of the school, Scott Summers, Bobby Drake, Hank McCoy and Jean Grey were amongst his first students some years ago. Logan was a student who had come when Xavier truly needed him and he decided to stay thereafter. Kitty Pryde was a young woman who had been a student since she was thirteen years old and was still the youngest student. The last was a mysterious Native American known only as Forge, he helped more with the mansion's technology than actually being a student.

However underneath the school was a different matter entirely to the upper parts. The mansion above was mainly wood and bricks but underneath it was stainless steel. This part of the mansion was kept out of view from the outside world. It was like something out of a science fiction film brought to life. There was an infirmary, a war room, a detention room and there was a hangar. Inside the hangar was a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. This jet had been specially designed and upgraded by Forge who had a talent with machinery. It was constantly being upgraded and wasn't used as much as expected.

But possible the largest room in this sub-basement was known simple as the Danger Room. Since the students of this school were gifted students this was where they would train. These students weren't truly human, they were known as mutants. They were feared by the very people they wanted to protect.

Mutants are thought to be the next step in human evolution but many of the human's saw them as nature's great mistake. Some would go to great lengths to see them eradicated off the face of the earth. But Professor Xavier had a dream of peaceful co-existence between the human and the mutants. However many saw that as an impossibility but the ones who have also believed in his dream have joined him in trying to make it a reality. Professor X called these people his X-Men.

Professor X was the most powerful telepath on the planet. Although he was a paraplegic he didn't let this hinder him in any way. His body might not have been that strong, his mind however would more than compensate for this.

Xavier's first student at the mansion was Scott Summers who is both gifted and cursed with optic blasts. Due to head trauma suffered as a child Scott can not switch his powers off meaning that he would blast anything he sees. Thankfully he wore ruby quartz glasses that blocked his powers. This was the only way he could look at someone without killing them with his powers. His codename with the X-Men was Cyclops and he was their leader in the field.

Bobby Drake was like the class clown. His powers allowed him to freeze moisture molecules in the air and redirect it in whatever way he sees fit. Much to the annoyance of many of his team mates Bobby uses his powers more for his own amusement rather than helping them out. But when push comes to shove Bobby would always pull through for his team. He even very fittingly called himself Ice-Man.

Xavier's next student was a man called Hank McCoy. Even though his codename was Beast it was a gross oversimplification of the man. Hank was gifted with superhuman strength, stamina and dexterity. However his outward appearance would turn many away. Unfortunately due to his mutation he had long blue fur all across his body and he had some other ape like features. His mind was something completely different though. He had intelligence that would rival any Government scientist and this was through his own hard work.

Jean Grey was the first woman to follow in Xavier's dream. She was a powerful mutant with both telekinetic and telepathic abilities. Her powers made her possibly the most powerful member of the X-Men. Jean however never used her telepathic powers against anyone unless she had no choice. Her telepathy however was not as powerful as Professor X but was growing at an almost alarming rate. She was also in love with Scott Summers but their relationship had been strained of late.

Logan was a very mysterious man, unlike many of the other X-Men he could only remember the last ten years of his life. Not even Professor X had been able to recover his memories. It seemed that they had been artificially wiped much like a computer hard drive. Logan was gifted with healing powers that meant he could heal from almost any injury, his skeleton was also laced with a metal alloy called Adamantium the strongest metal known to man. He also had six adamantium claws that would pop out of his knuckles. His senses were also superhuman, he could hear a pin falling from miles away, he could smell someone no matter how much they washed themselves. Logan was given the codename Wolverine by the Canadian government.

Kitty Pryde was youngest member of the X-Men. When her powers first activated she found herself uncontrollable phasing through solid objects as if she was a ghost. Since then she has learned to use her powers to great effect to both help her team and use against her opponents. Her powers also short circuit any electrical devises making her extremely valuable against enemies that relied on technology. She was no longer the weak defenceless girl she had been once. Her codename was Shadowcat.

Forge was the technology expert of the team. Having lost his right leg during a tour of duty in Vietnam he used his powers to create a new one. His powers made him able to create any type of machine. This made making a robotic leg almost child's play. Although his powers didn't help him in combat his creations did however. His creations would also vastly help the X-Men in both offensive and defensive ways. This made him one of the most valuable members of the X-Men.

Inside the Danger Room Cyclops was leading Wolverine and Ice-Man in another of their training exercises. For now the room seemed to be completely empty but looks can be deceiving. There was a reason why this was called the Danger Room. They just didn't know when the danger was coming. Forge had recently upgraded the Danger Room so they didn't know when the danger would come.

"Stay sharp," said Cyclops. "Anything can happen."

"Oh come on Scott," replied Ice-Man. "We've been in this room God knows how many times. There's nothing that we haven't fought against before. Let Forge throw his best at us we can take it."

Just then part of the Danger Room wall opened and a very large shadowy figure walked out. At first it was hard to make out what it was but when it stepped into the light they soon realised who it was. It was a being of immense size and strength. His skin was light green and had a temper that was beyond measure. He was known to many as the Incredible Hulk, the strongest there is, was and ever will be.

"You were saying?" asked Cyclops.

"HULK SMASH PUNY HUMANS!" shouted the Hulk.

Ice-Man tried to freeze the Hulk in place but he easily broke out of his icy prison. Cyclops tried one of his optic blasts but it did little to slow the monster down. It walked towards them at a relatively slow pace.

"This isn't working," said Ice-Man. "How the hell did Forge get the Hulk here. Last I heard he was somewhere in Arizona."

"Try attack move delta," commanded Cyclops.

Ice-Man then froze the head of Hulk and Cyclops took off his visor and released the full energy of his optic blasts. It would be enough to stop anyone, but the Hulk wasn't just anyone. He still walked towards and he clapped his hands sending a shockwave that took down the three X-Men. Only Wolverine could get back to his feet. Until now he had been silent and observant. But now it was his time to strike.

"I'm ending this now bub!" shouted Wolverine.

With almost lightning fast speed he ran up to the Hulk and jumped up into the air just in front of the monster. The Hulk went to punch him out of the air but Wolverine popped his adamantium claws and sliced the Hulk's head. He dropped down onto knees and fell down onto the ground. But instead of blood coming out of their wound it was oil and electrical sparks. This hadn't been the true Hulk, it had only been a robot designed to be exactly like the creature.

"Too easy," said Wolverine. "The real Hulk wouldn't have gone down that easily. Tell Forge to call me when he actually makes something realistic. I'm going for a brewski. Close program."

As the other X-Men got their bearings back they saw Wolverine leave the Danger Room and they looked down at the Hulk robot. They were amazed that Wolverine could take it down as easily as he did when they had such a difficult time. But since he had fought the original Hulk on more than one occasion he knew how to take him down. All that was left to do now clear up the mess.

Meanwhile almost thirty feet above them inside a small room overlooking the Danger Room Forge and Beasts were at the controls. The control board had dozens of different buttons, dials, switches, levers which each had their own individual purpose and function. For any normal person the controls would have been far too complicated for them to comprehend. But Forge and Beast weren't any normal people, they were the ones who had designed practically everything in the Danger Room. Even the texture of the tiles had been specially designed by the pair.

But both were very disappointed with how the training session had gone. Although Cyclops and Ice-Man had struggled, the fact that Wolverine took the robot down so easily. It meant that they had a lot of work to do to make the Danger Room more challenging.

"I thought I had it that time," said Forge. "But you won't believe how difficult it is to replicate something like the Hulk."

"Creating the robots is your department my friends," replied Beast. "Designing the programs are mine. I'm sure you'll be able to do it eventually. It's just that Wolverine at times can be a little unpredictable."

"Unpredictable is one thing but sometimes he's downright unorthodox. We'll have to create something to keep him on his toes."

"I'm afraid that's easier said than done."

"How are things going with the Downtown program?"

"It's nearly complete but there are still a few bugs in the program. For some reason it looks more like Middle Earth rather New York City."

"That's what you get programming it while reading The Two Towers."

Both X-Men chuckled as they left the Danger and walked towards another large room that was filled mostly with what most people would call junk. On one side of the room were chemistry sets and a blackboard with scientific formulas and mathematical equations. On the other was bits of machinery and another blackboard. However on this one were plans for different kind of devices. Some were weapons but others were things that only Forge actually knew what they were.

This room was the shared lab of the two X-Men. One side was primarily for Beast and the other was for Forge. At times they might have gotten in each other way but most of the time they minded each other's space. They would also work on some projects together normally with fantastic results. However some projects didn't quite work out as well as they had expected. Once they had tried to create a teleporting device but instead they created the world's most expensive juicer.

Although that device had been a failure Forge's latest creation was more of a success. It wasn't finished yet but it would revolutionise mutant lives forever. But it was something that if it were in the wrong hands could do more damage than good. He only created it so that it could benefit the X-Men in some way. It would only be used in emergencies and would be locked up the vast majority of the time.

Directly above the lab was the mansion's vast library. There were many fictional and non-fictional books in this library. Some years ago it had been organised thoroughly but in recent years the books had become disorganised. The L's were mixed up with the B's and for some reason Charles Dickens was next to H.G. Wells.

The task of re-arranging the books came down on the two women of the team Jean Grey and Kitty Pryde. But with hundreds maybe even thousands of books to sort out it was a daunting task for both women.

"This is going to take forever," said Kitty. "Couldn't Forge just create some kind of device that let you read whatever book you wanted?"

"I think he's doing more important things," replied Jean. "Besides we can make this job fun."

"How?"

"Well we could…" Jean began to think but her mind was drawing a blank. She eventually had to concede defeat. "I've got nothing."

"We better get started anyway before the Professor thinks we're being lazy." She then sighed. "Are we sorting them in title or author?"

"I think author would be easier for everyone."

"Besides Bobby I don't think he even knows who wrote The Jungle Book. To him it would probably be Walt Disney."

Jean used her telekinetic powers to remove all the books off the shelves. Many of the books were dusty and this caused Kitty to sneeze a couple of times. But the first job of the task was to divide the books from fiction to non-fiction. Each category was sent on one particular side of the library. Kitty wished that she had superhuman speed just so she could make the task got a lot faster.

There was only one mutant that the X-Men knew about who had superhuman speed. His name was Pietro Maximoff better known as Quicksilver. He was a member of a group known as the Brotherhood of Mutants. Where the X-Men pursued peace between humans and mutants the Brotherhood's goal was destroy this peace. Unlike the X-Men they saw mutants as being superior to humans in every way. They wanted to replace the humans as the dominant species of the planet. Their members included Mortimer Toynbee also known as Toad. He was a mutant with frog like abilities and many of their mannerisms. He often used his extraordinarily long tongue to catch flies and eat them in one gulp. Unfortunately he also neglected to shower which meant anyone could smell him from a mile away.

Other members included Fred Dukes also known as the Immovable Blob. His size and sheer weight made him one of the most formidable members of the Brotherhood. If things had gone differently in his early years he might have become an X-Man. But due to childhood ridicule Blob sees no good in humanity.

Wanda Maximoff was the sister of Quicksilver. Her codename the Scarlet Witch was very fitting for this very powerful mutant. Her abilities to manipulate probability made her the most unpredictable member of the Brotherhood. Although she didn't believe in the beliefs of the group as much as the others she doesn't want to see her twin brother get hurt.

The final member of the Brotherhood was an Australian man named John Allerdyce also known as Pyro. His abilities to manipulate fire in any way he saw fit made him a very dangerous mutant. The only thing more dangerous than his powers was his mind. There was nothing he loved more than setting something on fire and watching it burn.

The actions of the Brotherhood was constantly on the mind of the X-Men's leader Professor Charles Xavier. But it wasn't them that he was most worried about it was who was commanding them. Xavier's former friend Magneto was leading them towards war with the humans. Since Magneto had lost his family due to the horror of the Holocaust he saw that mutants would suffer the same fate if he stood by and did nothing. At one time he and Xavier had been the best of friends. But their ideologies were too different to see eye to eye. Though they still respected each other they were far from friends. Magneto's ability to control electromagnetic fields made him one of the most powerful mutants on the face of the earth. But it also made him extremely dangerous.

For now all Xavier could do nothing but watch the morning news. He didn't care much for the celebrity and sport sections, it was the political part that most interested him. There were some politicians who wanted to enforce laws that could start a war between humans and mutants. The most direct and popular politician went by the name of Senator Robert Kelly. Xavier knew that he would cause the mutant a lot of problems in the near future and would be a likely assassination target. He listened to the Senator on the news, he was voicing the need for a Mutant Registration Act. If the act was voted in it would mean every mutant in the country would have to register and be known to the general public. This would cause more problems than they would solved.

"Mutants are a danger to us all," said Senator Kelly in front of a press conference. "Only the MRA will protect our families from the mutant menace. When this act is voted in we will know who mutants are and most importantly what they can do. We can know if our children are being taught by mutants who can potentially take the very life that God gave us. Mutants like the X-Men and this so called Brotherhood are nothing but terrorists intending to destroy us all. Ladies and Gentlemen I Senator Robert Edward Kelly will not let this happen while I still breathe."

The crowd around him began to cheer for the senator while the report switched back to the news reporter. The reporter was an African American woman with large glasses and wearing a pearl necklace along with a red dress.

"The support for Kelly's Mutant Registration Act seems to be growing everyday with citizens around the country," said the Newsreader. "But there are many people view this as being identical to World War II Germany. Outspoken opposition such as Lorna Dane have condemned Kelly's actions. Miss Dane had this to say to Channel 4 news."

The report then moved to a woman with long dark hair and wearing a dark blue suit. Similar to Senator Kelly she had a crowd around her but this time they were supporters of mutants rather than anti-mutant protestors.

"May I stress to everyone that most mutants did not choose to be mutants," said Lorna. "They don't have a choice what powers they have or how it reacts with their everyday lives. Mutants are not some kind of monster from a fairy tale, they are people. I admit there are some who use their powers to benefit only themselves. But most mutants are tax paying, law obeying citizens. It's the same in any society, look at our prisons there are many humans who are serving time there because they chose to break the law to benefit themselves. If the Mutant Registration Act comes into power the Government going down a path that will lead to events that horrify the world. There was once a group of people who had citizens that they disliked and eventually eliminated simple because they were different. That group of people were called Nazis. If this anti-mutant legislations do not stop we will become as bad if not worse than the Nazis. As a citizen of this United States of America I will not stand by and watch this nation go back to the days of Segregation."

Xavier was happy that there were still some people who believed in a world like he did. But many humans were starting to support Kelly's Mutant Registration Act. Xavier dreaded to think about what would happen if it was voted in. He would have anti-mutant protestors outside the school every day and night. But he knew that it would be worse for mutants who didn't have the school for protection. This was something that he thought was extremely important to talk about to the other X-Men.

"X-Men come to the War Room immediately," said Xavier through telepathy. "Suiting up is not required."

A matter of minutes later the X-Men had formed in the War Room in the sub-basement of the mansion. Logan, Scott and Bobby were still suited up from their training in the Danger Room. The others were still in their civilian clothes. Since they hadn't had to suit up the X-Men knew that it wasn't a mission that they were talking about. It was the fact that Xavier had something on his mind that he wanted to discuss with the X-Men.

"Thank you X-Men for coming on such short notice," said Xavier. "Times are becoming dire, the Mutant Registration Act might come into force very soon. It could be the end of our goal of peaceful co-existence between humans and mutants."

"Is there anything we can do to stop it?" replied Scott.

"For now I'm afraid not. There is a slight glimmer of hope that wisdom will rise above the madness. I'm afraid that Magneto and the Brotherhood might push the Government too far. I believe it's only a matter of time."

"Magneto has been quiet for the past couple of months," answered Hank. "He might be planning something."

"I hope beyond hope that you're wrong Hank. But I'm afraid you could be right. Magneto wouldn't let something like this happen to mutants."

"What do you think he'll do Professor?" asked Jean.

"I'm afraid I don't know. All we can do is hope that he doesn't do anything that could jeopardise mutant relations."

"It's like in Nam," replied Forge. "We always knew that the VC were up to something but we would never know until it was too late. By then the damage had already been done."

"Is there absolutely nothing we could do?" asked Kitty. "I feel so powerless just standing here and doing nothing."

"If there was anything that could be done I would have you do it," replied Xavier. "But unfortunately events are beyond our control."

"Maybe it'll work out for the best," said Bobby.

"What do you mean by that?"

"If the act does go through maybe it won't be so bad. Sure things might be worse at first but then things might turn around. Maybe the Government will see their mistake and recall the act."

"Yeah that'll happen," replied Logan. "Right around the time we take our daily trip to fantasy land." He then lit a cigar and put it in his mouth. "Things will only go downhill if the act goes into force. If you think things are bad now just imagine what'll happen when everyone knows who you are and what you can do. You'll be lynched before you realise that you've had an accident."

"Ok I get it."

The next morning at a Pre School in Steele North Dakota Katie Lane had been running late for work. The rush hour traffic had made her late again and since she would lose money every time she was late she was greatly annoyed. She had only been working at the school for six months and she was already on a warning for being late. It seemed that no matter how early she would start out she always seemed to be late.

Katie practically ran into the school, she didn't want to think about what would happen if the Head of the school found out she was late again. But when she went into reception of the school she saw that it was a different woman sitting at the desk. Instead of the normal receptionist a woman with long brown hair was there instead. Katie was confused to why this woman would be here instead of the normal receptionist.

"Where's Heather today?" asked Katie.

"Heather's sick today I'm filling in for her," replied the Woman.

"Do me a favour and don't tell Christine I was late again."

"My lips are sealed."

"Thanks er…"

"Wanda."

"Thanks Wanda."

As Katie went into the nearby classroom Wanda took a small device out of her pocket and pressed the button. She then stood up and her clothes transformed from a long dress to a red and pink costume. It had a cape and a M shaped headdress, this woman was no ordinary woman it was the Scarlet Witch of the Brotherhood.

Inside the classroom there were close to two dozen children aged around four years old. Most of them were playing with toys and the others were playing with each other. There were three adult women inside supervising the children. To them it was just another normal day at Strawberry Poppets Pre School. But in a matter of moments their lives would forever be changed.

Just then three men walked into the classroom. This surprised the teachers since no had expected any visitors. The men were wearing overcoats with the collars up. It was hard to tell who they were. Everyone in the classroom stared at them and it took a couple of seconds for one of the teachers to start asking questions.

"Can we help you?" she asked.

"Yes you can," replied the Man in the middle. The men then took off their coats revealing their true identity. One had white hair and was wearing a green costume with a white streak going through it. The man to his left had green skin and warts over his face. His costume was more like a runner's suit but it was completely black. The final man had red hair and his costume was also red. There was much orange in there as well but he had a device that was on his back that connected to the palms of his hands. The women had seen these men on the news before. "If everyone does exactly as I say no one will get hurt."

One of the teachers tried to make a break for the fire exit but in a split second Quicksilver was in front of it. The woman took a step back in amazement and sheer terror. He then began to shake his right index finger.

"What did I just say?" he asked. "Very naughty."

"Y-you can't keep us here," replied the Woman.

"You're so naïve. It would be funny if it wasn't so annoying." He then looked over to Toad. "Toad get the camera."

Back at the Mansion Charles Xavier was once again watching the news and eating his breakfast. Jean had made waffles for him with maple syrup which he loved very dearly. But within minutes his breakfast was ruined due to what was happening on the news. His fears had been realised.

"Breaking news coming in," said the Newsreader. "The mutant terrorist group known as the Brotherhood have taken almost two dozen children and three adults hostage at Strawberry Poppet Pre-School in Steele North Dakota." Just then a man off screen passed the Newsreader a piece of paper with writing on it. The Newsreader took a couple of seconds to read the page before looking at the camera once more. "This just in we seem to have obtained a videotape from the terrorist group. The following scenes may be disturbing for some viewers."

Just then the screen changed to one of the Brotherhood surrounding the hostages. They were all sitting down on the ground. Many of the children were crying in terror. Even the teachers were afraid. Pyro stood to the left of the children while the Scarlet Witch stood to the right. In the middle in front of the camera was Quicksilver.

"Greetings humanity my name is Quicksilver," he said. "As you can see my friends and I have taken these children hostage. But I'm not a bad man, I really don't want to see any of these kids getting hurt or worse. The only problem I have is that humanity forced us into doing such a heinous act. Your constant hatred and violence towards mutants has left us little choice but this course of action. The Brotherhood is far more reasonable than your politicians, we're actually giving you the chance to save these poor little children. All you have to do is obey our demands."

"I want my Mommy!" cried a random Child.

"Pyro silence that brat!" Pyro then put some sticky tape across the mouth of the crying child. He was careful not to cover the child's nose. "Now as I was saying I have only three demands. First the Mutant Registration Act to be dismissed immediately, second all anti-mutant programs to be dismantled immediately. Finally I want all mutant prisoners around the country to be released. If my demands are met these children will live to see another day, Defy me and these brats will burn. You see my friend from Down Under here has a bit of a thing for fire." Pyro then crated a tiny dragon in the palm of his hands. This was purely as an example of his powers. "Sometimes when he plays with fire people get hurt. You have eight hours to respond. I hope you make the right decision for their sakes."

Just then the video ended and the screen moved back to that of the Newsreader. She was shocked to see what had just happened along with Xavier. He couldn't believe that the Brotherhood would do something so terrible to innocent children. He could see Magneto's training in them too much. He instantly dropped waffle and headed out of the room.

Minutes later Xavier was down in the War Room along with the rest of the X-Men. They were all suited up and ready to go. Some had not heard what had happened and were wondering what had gotten the Professor so worked up. Whatever it was they knew that it wasn't going to be good.

"My X-Men I'm afraid the worst has happened," said Xavier. "The Brotherhood have kidnapped a class of pre-schoolers and are holding them hostage."

"Oh my God," replied Kitty. "Those poor kids."

"In less than six hours they will most likely be killed."

"That's low even for them," grunted Wolverine.

"Unfortunately they seem to be desperate. I have almost no doubts that they will kill these children. We need to rescue those children before time runs out or worse."

"How can it possible get any worse than that?" asked Bobby.

"They've issued demands to the Government and I'm afraid that they'll not take them well. This could very well turn into an all-out war."

"What about the Avengers or the Fantastic Four? Can't they help?"

"The Avengers are currently half way across the galaxy and the Fantastic Four are dealing with an incident in Latvaria. We'll be on our own for this one. For that reason all seven of you must go to Steele and rescue those children. Kitty and Forge you're main priority will be to get the children out safely. The rest of you must keep the Brotherhood occupied while the rescue takes place. Do not fight them inside the school, take them outside and away from any crowds. But be vigilante I sense there might be more at work here than at first glance. I will monitor the situation through Cerebro. I will give you guidance where necessary. Are there any questions?" None of the X-Men said anything. "Good, God speed my X-Men."

The X-Men left the War Room and made their way towards the hangar. Charles Xavier on the other hand went to Cerebro.

Cerebro was a large device that helped amplify the abilities of Charles Xavier. With this device he could locate and communicate with almost anyone on the planet. Cerebro itself was huge and took up a very large room. It had a head set connected to a desk with some lights and indicators. Without Cerebro the X-Men would truly be on their own.

Minutes later the Blackbird was flying at supersonic speed towards Steele. Cyclops and Forge were at the jet's controls. Forge had set Blackbird to be invisible to radar and scanners, but for now it could still be seen by the naked eye. Normally on the journey the X-Men would listen to music. Normally it would help them stay calm before the mission started. This time around it was the turn of Beast. He decided to have Queen Night At The Opera on much to the dismay of Ice-Man.

"Dude you know I don't like Queen," said Bobby.

"Did you prefer this or Beethoven?" replied Beast.

The one thing Bobby hated more than Queen was classical music. All he could do was sit back and admit defeat. Beast gave a little smile as he began to hum along to You're My Best Friend.

Wolverine lit up another cigar and began to puff away to it. The smoke was going in Shadowcat's face and she began to cough. She always hated it when Wolverine smoked on the Blackbird, it would always leave the jet smelling like smoke.

"Don't you know what those things do to your health Wolverine?" asked Shadowcat. "One of those takes around five minutes off your life."

"Listen half pint," replied Wolverine. "I heal meaning that smoking won't kill me even if I smoke a million of the damn things."

"Then at least think of the rest of us. None of us want to inhale your smoke. I have enough things to worry about."

"Don't worry I will think of everyone else."

"Thank you Wolverine."

"Right after this cigar."

Wolverine continued to puff away at his cigar. He smiled to himself thinking that he had just been funny. Shadowcat on the other hand didn't find it funny. She had enough of Wolverine's habit and his disregard for her health. She decided to turn the tables on him by phasing out of her chair and grabbing the cigar from his mouth. Since the cigar was no longer solid he couldn't grab it, all he could do was watch as Shadowcat threw the cigar on the ground and stepped on it putting it out.

"I guess you're cigar's finished," said Shadowcat.

"Brave move half pint," replied Wolverine. "You know not many people would do something like that and live to tell the tale. But there's one that you forgot."

"What's that?"

"You're gonna have to clean that up." He then chuckled to himself.

Cyclops had been listening to everything that was happening in the Blackbird. He never liked it when the X-Men argued with each other, but the team was more than that. They were all like a family to each other and like most families they were argue with each other. It didn't mean that they didn't like each other. It merely meant that they were acting like any normal family.

"Knock it off you two," commanded Cyclops. "Shadowcat get back to your seat, we're nearly in Steele." As Shadowcat got back into her seat Cyclops looked over to Forge who was at the other controls. "Forge activate the cloaking device."

"Alright," replied Forge. He then flicked a small green switch. But nothing seemed to happen. "Sorry it can take a couple of attempts." He then flicked the switch several more times until the cloaking device finally activated. It made the Blackbird invisible by bending light. "There we go, we get there in the end."

Meanwhile inside the pre-school Quicksilver was pacing around and looking at a nearby clock. He seemed to be waiting for something but his actions were making the hostages very nervous. Toad and Pyro were watching the windows in case any of the authorities wanted to attempt a rescue. A couple of people had gotten too close but Pyro scared them into retreating to a safe distance. By now every news channel in the country was here covering the crisis. But people Quicksilver wanted to be here weren't. The last thing he wanted to do was fail in this crisis.

"Damn it they should have been here by now," said Quicksilver. He then kicked a chair over much to the terror of the hostages.

The Scarlet Witch slowly walked towards her brother. She put her hand on his shoulder and it seemed to calm him down. He was always calmer whenever she was around. It had helped him out in a lot of situations.

"Calm down Pietro," said Scarlet Witch. "The X-Men will come."

"I hope they do," replied Quicksilver. "You know what Father will do if we fail him yet again."

"Let me worry about that. The X-Men can't ignore something like this. They're probably on their way right now."

"And when they come we'll be ready for them. Can you get Blob here if things start going down the toilet?"

"Yes but…"

"Good I have a feeling that we're going to need him."

A few minutes later the Blackbird was directly above the pre-school. Kitty phased out of the jet and began to slowly descent to the ground. Her powers allowed her to slow her rate of descent so that she could reach the ground without injury. It was like she was wearing an invisible parachute. It took her only a minute to quietly touch down on roof. The X-Men landed on top of a nearby building. Forge was the first to get off the jet and he wore a strange pair of goggles. These weren't any ordinary goggles however, with these on he could straight into the pre-school. He saw Shadowcat on the roof and the Brotherhood inside. He could see the hostages cowering in fear. Cyclops walked off the Blackbird and went over to Forge. He couldn't see what was happening.

"What you got Forge?" asked Cyclops.

"I see Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Toad and Pyro inside the pre-school," replied Forge. "There are around two dozen hostages and Shadowcat is safely on the roof. How do you plan on getting the Brotherhood out so that she can get the children out safely?"

"I'm leaving that to Jean."

Inside the Blackbird Jean was using her telepathy to sense the minds of the Brotherhood. It was hard to pick them out from all the panicking minds that were surrounding them. A few times she tried to contact Professor X but he was strangely silent. This worried her but she didn't have time to think about it. Her main concern was to rescue the children before they were harmed.

The Brotherhood had been given some telepathic training so she couldn't shut down their minds. One thing she could do however was put a suggestion into their minds. Her only hope that they were weak minded enough to follow them.

Inside the pre-school Toad was seemingly getting warmer. He tried to fan himself but he didn't seem to be getting cooler. He was getting very uncomfortable and he was beginning to sweat.

"Is it me or is it getting warm in here?" asked Toad.

"It's just you," replied Quicksilver. "Now keep your eye on those brats."

"I think I'm going to get some fresh air."

"Toad stay in here."

But Toad ignored him and walked outside the front door. He was constantly fanning himself trying to cool himself down. By now Wolverine, Ice-Man, Beast and Cyclops were moving in on the pre-school. They were trying to keep out of sight but it was fairly difficult due to their appearance.

Through one of the windows Cyclops could see Pyro and for now it didn't seem like he had noticed him. Pyro was going to be one of the biggest hitters so it was key to take him down as quickly as possible.

One last thing Jean did was her telepathy was tell the children to hold hands. Quicksilver could see them doing this and he couldn't figure why they were doing it. He was very on edge and this was tipping him over the edge.

"What the hell are they doing?" asked Quicksilver.

"They're scared," replied the Scarlet Witch.

"If everything goes to plan they don't have to be scared of anything."

Just then Cyclops gave a signal to Shadowcat and she phased through the roof and down into the pre-school. The Brotherhood was completely surprised to see her appear out of almost nowhere.

"X-Men!" shouted Pyro.

"Don't mind me," replied Shadowcat. "I'm just passing through and wanted to take a souvenir. See ya." She then put her hand on one of the children and they seemingly moved at super speed through the wall and out the pre-school. The children had not simple stood up and walked they seemingly flew.

What had happened was that Shadowcat had took them out of sync with the planet. The planet had rotated on its axis but Shadowcat and the hostages had stayed in the same spot. They had never moved. It was the planet below them that had done that.

Within seconds of Shadowcat rescuing the children Cyclops blasted Pyro from a distance with an optic blast. The blast had been powerful enough to knock Pyro out cold and rendering him useless in the fight.

"Damn it to hell!" shouted Quicksilver. "Get Blob on those brats. I'll deal with the X-Men."

"But Pietro," replied Scarlet Witch. "You can't take on all the X-Men by yourself."

"I know but remember the plan. All we need to do is to keep them here as long as possible. And if we can take as many of them out as we can."

"Ok Pietro." Her fists and eyes glowed a scarlet red for a couple of seconds before subsiding. It's done."

"Good now get Toad and help me. I'll start the first attack."

Quicksilver then ran outside the pre-school at supersonic speed. Although he didn't know where the X-Men were it wouldn't take him long to find them. He could search several square blocks faster than the blink of an eye.

His movements had not gone unnoticed however. Jean had picked him up as soon as he left and tried to warn the X-Men on the ground. Wolverine had also picked up his scent and he could hear him running around. He popped his claws out of his knuckles but within seconds he felt a sharp punch to the face. Cyclops also had his visor taken from him, without it he couldn't control his powers. He had to shut his eyes before he blasted away any of the X-Men.

Quicksilver then ran back to the front of the pre-school, there Toad and Scarlet Witch were waiting for them. He pointed towards where he had just spotted the X-Men. He carried Cyclops's visor in the other hand.

"The X-Men are over there," he said. "There are four of them. Well actually make that 3, Cyclops is useless without these." He then held up the visor. "Here Toad here's a birthday present."

He then threw them at Toad and he was easily able to catch them with his tongue. He then put the visors on and did a quick pose.

"How do I look?" asked Toad.

"Revolting," replied Quicksilver. "But you take your pick of anything else you want right after we destroy the X-Men."

"You do realise my birthday was last month?"

"Yeah but none of us cared."

The Brotherhood began to move towards where the X-Men were. They were still recovering from Quicksilver's first attack. Wolverine recovered from the punch almost instantly but Cyclops was still having to keep his eyes closed. They could not let this drawback slow them down. The Brotherhood would show them no mercy.

Meanwhile a couple of miles away Shadowcat had made the hostages back in sync with the planet in an open space. There was no one around and Shadowcat needed a moment to catch her breath. She was happy that everyone was safe but the rescue had taken a lot out of her and she felt very weak. Katie walked over to the heroine tried to help her back up to her feet. Shadowcat was constantly panting.

"Are you alright?" asked Katie.

"I will be in a minute," replied Shadowcat. "I've never phased so many people like that before. Are the children alright?"

"They will be now thanks to you."

Just then Shadowcat noticed a shadow above her. When she looked up she was horrified with what she saw. She quickly grabbed Katie and jumped out of the way. Seconds later an extremely large object hit the ground. At first Katie didn't know what it was but she soon realised it was a very tall obese man. He was the largest man she had ever seen and once more she felt afraid. She recognised him from the news, he was Blob the final member of the Brotherhood.

"What do we have here?" asked Blob. "You kids are so cute I might just eat you up. I haven't eaten in almost an hour."

Shadowcat slowly got back to her feet and stood in front of Blob. She was in-between him and the children and she wasn't going to move for anyone. Although Blob was several times her size she was not afraid.

"You're not getting these kids Blob," said Shadowcat. "Not while I'm here!"

Blob walked up to Shadowcat and simple slapped her out of the way. She was too weak to phase through it and she was almost knocked out. Now it seemed that Blob was going to get to the children. They all cried out in terror. The adults tried to shield them but it would do little to stop the Blob.

"All this excitement is making me hungry," said Blob. "And these kids look so tasty. It be a shame for them to go to waste."

"BLOB!" shouted Shadowcat. Her voice had been so loud that it caught Blob by surprise. He looked over to her and saw her getting up to her feet. She looked very angry and her eyes seemed to be glowing. "I TOLD YOU!" Just then much to everyone's surprise it looked like Shadowcat was growing taller. At first it was slow but her growth increased rapidly. All Blob could do was look up at the growing woman. It seemed her growth would never end, but eventually it did but by now Shadowcat was around fifty feet tall. She looked down at the now seemingly tiny Blob. "YOU'RE NOT GETTING THESE CHILDREN!"

Then with one mighty kick she sent Blob flying through the air like a football. She watched him fly over the horizon and eventually even she lost sight of him. But by now things began to sink in. She looked at her hands and then down to the children. They were still safe but now they were seemingly terrified of her.

"W-what happened to me?" she asked.

But before she could think anymore she felt her body get heavy and she realised that she was losing consciousness. She fell back away from the children and she was knocked out before she hit the ground. When she hit the ground her body slowly began to revert back to its normal size.

Oblivious to the recent events the X-Men prepared themselves for their confrontation against the remaining members of the Brotherhood. Forge was watching everything that was happening but he wasn't unarmed. He carried with him a large sniper of his own creation. Instead of having lead bullets the gun fired laser rounds. The magazine in the sniper was specifically none lethal since the X-Men did not believe in their killing their enemies.

Forge positioned the sniper and looked through the scope. This sniper had a greater range than any sniper the military had to offer. He could shot someone from over ten miles out and the hit rate was greater than ninety nine per cent. He had Toad in his scope but he only wanted to shoot him if things deteriorated any further.

By now the Brotherhood had reached the X-Men's position. Ice-Man tried to make an ice-shield between the two teams but Scarlet Witch used her hex powers to melt it almost instantly. Quicksilver ran forward at superhuman speed and ran towards Wolverine and went to punch him again. However everything was going in slow motion Wolverine. He could see Quicksilver as if he was running at a normal pace. Instead of going to slash him Wolverine decided to retract his claws and simple punch Quicksilver in the face. The force of the punch broke Quicksilver's nose and he fell to the floor in a heap.

Toad tried to use his tongue to hit the blinded Cyclops but Beast caught his tongue and pulled him towards him. When he was close enough Beast punched Toad knocking him out cold. He picked up Cyclops's visor and gave it back to him.

"I believe this is yours," said Beast.

Cyclops took the visor off Beast and put them back on. Now he was able to get back into the fight. But by now there was only the Scarlet Witch left. She was easily the most powerful member of the Brotherhood.

But instead of fighting she just stood there and did nothing. She held up her hands and looked over at the remaining X-Men.

"I surrender," she said.

"It could be a trick," replied Ice-Man.

"Oh please Robert. I might be powerful but four of you combined would defeat me too easily. And besides this mission's been a success."

"How can it be a success? You lost."

"You X-Men are so naive haven't you figured it out yet? An attack on such vulnerable children in broad daylight. How stupid do you think we really are? The children were never all that important it was you we wanted."

"Make sense woman," demanded Wolverine. "Before I start slicing."

"All the X-Men are here meaning that your leader is home alone. This hostage crisis has all been a diversion."

Now it dawned on the X-Men what had been happening. Since the entire roster had been fighting the Brotherhood it left Xavier alone and vulnerable at the mansion. But by now it was too late to help Xavier. They could only hope that he was still at the mansion and not terrible injured.

Several minutes earlier at the Mansion Xavier had been following the journey of the X-Men towards Steele .At first everything seemed to be going well until he began to sense something off. He couldn't put his finger on it at first but when he looked at his watch he saw that it had stopped. He greatly hoped that the battery has simple died. But he took his watch off and dropped it. But instead of falling to the ground the watch moved towards Xavier's wheelchair and attached itself to the metal. The watch had been magnetised.

"Oh no," he said.

Suddenly the top of Cerebro began to shudder before ripping off. Since Cerebro was underground the earth above it was also removed. Xavier looked up as he saw a man wearing a red costume and helmet floated down in front of him. For a normal person this would have been impossible. But this was no normal person, it was Magneto the Master of Magnetism. He had an awe around him that made him seem more of a God rather than a human being. All Xavier could do was watch.

"Greetings Charles," said Magneto. There was great confidence in his voice. It was as though he already knew that he had won.

"Erik what is the meaning of this?" replied Xavier. He tried to use his powers to attack Magneto's mind but it was to no avail. He knew now that he was going to be in serious trouble.

"Oh please Charles." He then lowered himself so that he was at Xavier's level. There was a magnetic hum in the air. "Your powers don't work on me." He then tapped his helmet. "Let me show you what my powers can do to you." With a simple thought he lifted Xavier's chair into the air. Xavier was trapped and completely powerless to stop his former friend. He was like a rag doll to him.

"If you are here to kill Erik it will not bring the war any closer. As long as there are people who believe in peaceful co-existence between mutants and humans my dream will survive. Your efforts will be fruitless."

"Kill you?" He chuckled at Xavier. His cackles were like nails on a blackboard to Xavier. "I wouldn't dream of it. I want you to live long enough to see your dream burn and your soul destroyed." He hovered down to the walkway and began to walk towards the exit of Cerebro. He effortless opened the door with his powers and simple walked out. He used his powers to move put Xavier's chair back on the ground but he pulled it towards him. It was like the chair was being pulled by an invisible string. "The only reason I'm here is that your gadget man has something of great importance to me. And besides it is rare nowadays to have audience with you without your X-Men being a constant nuisance."

"The children were never the point." Anger began to grow in his voice. "You put them in danger simple to get the X-Men out of the way. Even I couldn't believe that you would harm a child."

"Forty years ago I saw children gassed by the thousands by a so called master race. Years later I realised that they were not the master race, not humans but mutants." He clenched his fist and Xavier could hear metal straining around the corridor. "If I do nothing my fellow mutants will be gassed and burn. I will not let that happen."

"But at what price Erik? Don't you see what's happened? You've become the very monster you're fighting against." Suddenly a small strip of metal ripped off a nearby wall and attached itself to Xavier's mouth. It was like metal tape gagging him. He could not utter a single word.

"Do not dare compare me to them!" His voice was low and agitated. "I am doing what needs to be done to ensure our survival. You could never understand the work I've been doing. You were raised in luxury in this mansion while I watched everyone I love die because they were viewed as sub human. Humans have destroyed what was once a beautiful and productive planet. It is time for a change."

By now Magneto had reached the entrance of the lab. He used his powers to crumple the door and remove it as if it were paper. He took a couple of steps inside and spotted what he was looking for on a workbench on Forge's side of the lab. It was a small rectangular object and there was a drawing of it on the blackboard behind it. Although there were other items of value all around him Magneto was only interested in this one device. Xavier didn't recognise it but he knew that if Magneto wanted it, it was something of great power.

As soon Magneto found what he was looking for he slammed Xavier's chair into the wall and he hit his head. The force wasn't enough to cause any major injuries but it was enough to knock him out. Magneto grabbed the device and attached it to a piece of metal on his belt. His powers would keep it attached.

"Farewell Charles," said Magneto as he walked out the lab. "We will meet each other again very soon and you will see that your dream is merely a fantasy."

Magneto strolled back towards Cerebro leaving Xavier unconscious in his wheelchair. But before Magneto flew through the hole in the ceiling he used his powers to destroy the Cerebro console. It was mere child's play to the Master of Magnetism and he simple floated out of the room with his prize.

Sometime later the X-Men returned from Steele. They had not bothered to apprehend the Brotherhood, their main concern was for their leader Professor X. But they were also worried about Shadowcat, she had not regained consciousness since her brief confrontation with Blob. But the first thing the X-Men saw from the Blackbird was the gaping hole in the ground over what was once Cerebro.

When the Blackbird landed Jean tried to contact Xavier through a telepathic link. But she couldn't pick him up. The team feared the worse. Most could not contemplate what would happen if Xavier died.

Forge and Cyclops discovered Xavier unconscious in the lab. Without a second thought they helped him back into his chair and tried to revive their mentor. After a minute Xavier slowly began to regain consciousness. His head was aching badly but he seemed to be responding well to his students.

"Professor are you alright?" asked Scott. There was great concern in his voice. He had viewed Xavier as a father figure since his parents died in a plane crash while he was still a child.

"Y-yes I'm fine," replied Xavier. His voice was weak and it was a little hard to make out what he was saying. "But I fear the worst will happen. The recent events are spelling humanity's doom."

Forge then glanced to his workbench and saw that the device that he had been working on was missing. Fear overtook his body. He walked over to his bench and frantically searched for it but to no avail.

"This is bad this is really bad," said Forge. Fear had set in at this point. "He's taken my amplifier."

"Your amplifier?" asked Xavier with concern.

"Yes I was working on an alternative to Cerebro. It was supposed to amplify mutant abilities and still give them control. If you had been using in Professor your powers would have been amplified much like it would in Cerebro. But in Magneto's hands it would amplify his powers to a point I dare not imagine. It would make him unstoppable."

Xavier shed a tear. Never before had he felt that his dream was so close to failing. If what Forge was saying was true then the X-Men were helpless in stopping whatever Magneto was planning. Even if Magneto were to fail most likely humans would hate mutants even more than before and a war would quickly follow.

A few hours in the medi-lab Kitty was finally regaining consciousness. Her vision was blurry at first but it slowly returned. At first she could see a blue fuzz ball but as her vision returned she could see that it was Hank. He was looking at some notes but when she began to groan he realised that she was waking up. Jean had also been in the medi-lab caring for her, she walked over to Kitty examined her eyes.

"She's waking up," said Jean with some relief.

"Good," replied Hank. "I was worried that she'd never wake up." He then looked over Kitty and she looked up at him. "Katherine can you hear me?"

"W-where am I?" asked Kitty in a quiet groggy voice.

"You're in the mansion Kitty," answered Jean. "We almost thought we lost you in Steele. But I'm glad to see that you're alright."

Kitty was starting to feel stronger and she slowly sat up in the bed. She noticed that she was no longer in her costume but was wearing a hospital gown. She still felt light headed but she was more aware of everything around her.

"What happened to me?" she asked. There was more strength in her voice. "Last thing I remember I was fifty feet tall and playing Field Goal practice with Blob. And then everything went black." She then remembered the children. "Are the children alright?"

"Physically yes," replied Hank. "But they might be mentally scarred after the whole experience. They may recover in time but I can't say for certain. I'm a doctor of the body not the mind." He then looked at his notes. "And for your little growth spurt I believe your secondary mutation activated."

"Secondary? Mutation?" There was great concern in her voice. "What do you mean a secondary mutation?"

"It's rare but some mutants manifest multiple powers." He then looked back at Kitty. "Sometimes they activate within days or weeks after the primary mutation activates. Sometimes it can take years as in your case. Your primary powers activated when you were thirteen and now your secondary power has activated. Much like Hank Pym of the Avengers you seem to be able to increase your size and mass accordingly. That's how you managed to defeat Blob so easily. I'm afraid straining both your primary and secondary powers like you did almost killed you. If you had grown an extra couple of feet or phased those children for a couple of seconds longer you would have died from exhaustion."

"I almost died?"

"Yes but you will be fine all you need to do is rest," replied Jean. "In a couple of days you'll fully recover." Kitty then yawned. "You just go back to sleep." She then used her powers to make Kitty sleepy and it didn't take her long to fall back onto her pillow and drift into a deep sleep.

"You didn't tell her about Magneto," said Hank.

"It's best not for her to worry about him yet. If what the Professor is correct we'll need her at full strength."

Later that night most of the news reporters gather in Bismarck North Dakota. They were all outside the state's Mutant Detention Facility or MDF. There were several MDFs scattered around the country. There were at least one in every state but states with a high mutant population required multiple MDFs. They were specially made prisons for renegade and dangerous mutants. This was normally the last place a mutant wanted to end up. These prisons were notoriously harsh and secure. It was almost impossible to break out of these prisons.

Quicksilver, Toad and Pyro had all been captured by the authorities following the hostage crisis in Steele. They had been transported to the State's MDF as they awaited charge to be made against them by the State. The reporters wanted to capture a glimpse of the mutant terrorist before they were locked away and left to rot.

The Brotherhood were transported in specially constructed prison vans designed to hold a wide range of mutants. Each member of the Brotherhood was transported in a separate van and each didn't come in at the same time. First Toad's van came followed by Quicksilver's. Pyro's on the other hand was still a couple of miles away from the prison.

The van was driving down a long dark lane surrounded by open fields. Inside the van Pyro had his costume stripped from him and instead he was wearing a MDF prison uniform. Without his costume he could not generate the fire he needed to cause chaos. He could not generate the fire himself and needed a fire source to properly use his powers. Without his costume he was almost powerless. All he could do was bang his fists on the side of the van in an attempt to intimidate the two guards driving the van.

"You're going to be sorry mate!" shouted Pyro. "When my friends bust me out of here I'm going to burn you so much that even your own mothers won't recognise your dead smoking corpse!"

"Shut up freak!" replied a sharp angry voice. The guard in the passenger seat closed the small opening that allowed him to see Pyro. He looked towards the other guard who was driving. "I can't wait for them to lock this *&$)"%$ up."

"Yeah him and his friends," replied the other guard. "How long do you think it'll be before this limey cracks."

"I'm Australian you idiot!" shouted Pyro with much anger.

"SHUT UP!" replied both of the guards.

Suddenly the guards saw what seemed to be a dog standing in front of them in the road. It was too late for them to stop and the van seemingly ran over the dog. It then came to a screeching halt and this caused Pyro to throw forward and hit his body along the van walls. He thought that he might have broken a bone or two.

The guards were in shock over what just happened. It took them a moment to catch their breaths and think about what had just happened. Since both had dogs they didn't like the thought of running over one.

"I think you just hit a dog," said the guard.

"Go and see if it's alright," replied the driver.

"Are you serious?" At first he thought that the driver was kidding. But he began to realise that the driver was being serious. "You're kidding right?"

"Just go it'll only take you a minute."

"Whatever."

The Guard climbed out of the van and began to walk down towards where the dog had been knocked down. It was very dark and it was hard to make anything out. The fact that the road seemed to be deserted made him feel anxious. But as he approached the dog it seemed very odd. He expected to see a lifeless body but it looked very stiff. He quickly knocked it with his foot and noticed that there was a wooden noise along with it. This was no dog, it looked like it was a mere model.

"What the hell?" he asked himself. He then turned around and was confronted by a man wearing no clothes. This was very shocking but the most shocking thing was that he looked exactly like the Guard just without clothes. He even had a birth mark near his right ear and the same stubble around his chin.

"I need your clothes," replied the naked man.

He then grabbed the neck of the guard and with one twist snapped it with relative ease. As the guard's body fell to the ground the naked man undressed him and put the clothes on himself. It only took a minute to put all the clothes on and leave the lifeless guard where he fell. One thing he made sure that he picked up was the guard's key card. This would be essential for what he had planned.

When the man was fully dressed he walked back to the van and climbed inside and sat in the seat next to the driver. At first he was silent but the driver didn't start driving off just yet. He turned to the man and was curious.

"So what was it?" asked the Driver.

"J-just a dog," replied the Man. He had to remember everything that he was told to say. "It was still alive but in great pain so I snapped its neck and put it out of its misery."

"Yeah better to end it quickly than just leave it there to die slowly." He then began to drive the van and continued on the plan route to the MDF prison. "We better pick up the pace or else we won't get our photos in tomorrow's paper."

"Just be sure you get us there in one piece."

For several minutes the van travelled along the planned route and eventually reached the prison. There was a mob of reporters and photographers waiting for them. They all wanted to get a picture of the notorious mutant terrorist. However the van drove inside the prison out of the view of the cameras. The disappointed photographers didn't get a single shot. One of them had come all the way from New York City to get a photograph. His boss was known to be very short tempered and he hoped that he wouldn't fire him for the umpteenth time.

As the van pulled to a halt there were close to a dozen guards waiting for them. They weren't taking any chances with the Brotherhood. More than once they had slipped away from custody with a wide range of tricks and escapes. They wanted to be sure that this time nothing went wrong.

"Remember your training!" shouted the Sergeant. "If the mutie tries anything funny hit him hard and hit him fast!"

The guard who pulled the short straw was the one who had to open the van doors. Most of the guards carried taser prods and they were not afraid to use them if they needed to. They doubted if they accidentally killed that anyone would mind. They strongly disliked mutants who endangered children.

As the doors were opened one of the guards crawled inside and grabbed Pyro by his collar. Pyro was reluctant to move but a quick jab with the prod was more than enough to get him moving. As he slowly walked out of the van he saw all of the guards waiting for him. There were no sources of fire here so his powers were useless in this situation. He stopped for a moment and he received another jab from a prod.

"Keep moving freak," said the guard. He was willing to give him another jab just in case he didn't get the message.

"Ok I'm going," snapped Pyro. "Don't get your knickers in a twist."

Pyro was led into the prison and as he walked towards his cell he could see other mutant prisoners. A few he recognised from various sources and a couple were new to him. He saw Toad jumping around in his cell trying to find some way out. But all he was doing was wasting his energy in a fruitless effort. He was shouting verbal abuse at the guards but they simple ignored him. A couple were tempted to go inside the cell and deal with him themselves. But there were still laws against that for now.

The prison itself looked very hi-tech and it had to be to house the mutants who had the misfortune of being sent here. There were mutants here who could level an entire building given the chance. There were also mutants here who had been convicted of crimes that would merit the death penalty and they were others who simple were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The cells were locked with an energy shield that covered the entire entrance. Anyone who touched the shield would instantly be electrocuted. Some mutants who were suicidal simple left their hand on the shield and simple let themselves electrocute themselves to death. It was normal a messy end and the janitors would complain about cleaning up burned flesh and smouldering ashes.

Eventually Pyro had been led to a nice empty cell in a part of the prison where lights didn't always work properly. The heating was substandard and the running water was always ice cold. It was known as the worst part of the prison and this was exactly where they were going to leave him.

"Don't I get anything eat?" asked Pyro. He had not eaten for several hours and was feeling as hungry as Blob.

"There's some rat crap in the corner," replied a guard. "It has all the nutrients you need to live. Well until tomorrow at least."

"You'll burn for this mate. Mark my words."

"Shut up you English jerk."

"How many times do I need to say I'M NOT ENGLISH I'M AUSTRAILIAN!"

"All the same to me."

Meanwhile on the other side of the prison the mysterious man was walking around the corridors. It was as if he was looking for something but the prison was like a giant maze. If one did not know where they were going they could be lost in these corridors for some time. However this man seemed to know his way around even though he had never been in this prison before.

But eventually his efforts were not in vein. He came across the exact thing he was looking for except it wasn't a thing it was a person. He had made his way towards the cell where the fastest mutant alive was lying on his bed. He was staring at the ceiling and was going nowhere in a hurry. There was a single guard outside the cell keeping a watchful eye on the mutant. He had seen what happened the last time a guard lost sight of him for a fraction of a second.

The mysterious man casually walked towards the guard. At first the guard didn't seem to notice the man coming towards him but when he was a few feet away he almost jumped. He had not expected anyone to come down this way and he quickly put his hand towards his gun. But he saw that that it looked like a friend of his. He smiled at first before waving. He had not seen him for some time.

"Hey what's up Frank?" asked the Guard. His voice was very cheery and somewhat high. "How are the kids?"

"The Warden wants you in his office immediately," replied the mysterious man abruptly. There was a sharp tone to his voice.

"But I'm supposed to be watching the prisoner." Where there had once been joy in his voice now was second guessing.

"Do you really think the Warden will take too kindly to you disobeying a direct order? He sent me here to relieve you."

"Err Ok." The guard began to walk away from the cell. He still wasn't sure why the Warden would want to speak to him. In his mind he had been working fine since his transfer from South Dakota.

Inside his cell Quicksilver had noticed the change in guards. He quickly got up from the bed and ran to the energy shield. He stopped just short of it and stared at the mysterious man. He seemed to be trying to intimidate him but it didn't seem to be working. The mysterious man just stood there staring at Quicksilver.

"Hey flat scan you should bow before seeing your replacement," said Quicksilver with some anger in his voice. "You know your days as top species are numbered you hear me. All you flat scans will be extinct and your rightful masters will take their place. Everything you've created will come to nothing."

At first the mysterious man stood there and did nothing. But then he began to laugh, at first he had a deep laugh but as he continued laughing the pitch of his voice began to rise and within second his voice had changed from a man's to a woman's voice. His eyes transformed from a regular brown eye to yellow eyes with no pupils. His laughing continued until it eventually subsided.

"Oh please Pietro," he said in the woman's voice. "You should really hear yourself talking. You don't realise how boring your voice is."

"M-mystique," replied Pietro. His voice had reverted to one of gibbering. But he slowly managed to get his words out. "I was wondering if you were going to show up."

"The only reason I'm here is because Magneto still sees you as an asset. If he hadn't gotten the amplifier he would have left you here to rot."

"I've always been an asset." His voice was very stern. "Now get me outta here before anything else happens."

"Just remember that if Magneto ever commanded me to dispose of you I would without giving a second thought."

She then walked over to an electronic panel on the wall right next to the cell. Mystique took the key card that she had stolen from the guard out of her pocket. She then carefully swiped it on the panel and the red light changed to green. Less than a second later the energy shield deactivated and Quicksilver simple stepped out of the cell. He took a quick breath and looked towards Mystique.

"Thanks that cell made me feel claustrophobic," said Quicksilver. "No real room to stretch my legs."

Mystique then walked over to him and gave him the key card. By now she had changed her eyes to that of the dead guard.

"Magneto wants you to free every mutant in this facility," said Mystique in a man's voice. "We're leaving no one behind."

"Even Toad?" replied Quicksilver. He saw no reason to see Toad free. To him he was more of a liability than of any assistance.

"Yes even him."

"Fine but if he gets captured again I'm not breaking him out."

Then with superhuman speed Quicksilver ran to each of the cells and used the key card to unlock them all. At first the freed mutants were unsure what to do, but it didn't take them long to figure out what they needed to do.

Most of the mutants simple ran towards the nearest exit while others wanted to have some measure of revenge on the guards. In less than one minute the prison had gone from everything running smoothly to utter chaos being unleashed. The guards were completely overwhelmed by the sheer force of the escaping mutants. Many of them hadn't been trained in how to deal with a mass escape. Many of them were shooting at any mutant that crossed their paths. But before they could do much damage Quicksilver removed the magazines in the guns faster than they could be fired.

When the guards were disarmed they were helpless in stopping the mutants from escaping. Many of the guards simply ran and find a safe place to hide. Most of the mutants could have easily overpowered them and they saw no point in fighting on. A few guards who were brave enough to stand a fight soon regretted it. One had strange mucus spat in his face, almost instantly it hardened around his mouth and nose. He and several of the guards tried to remove the mucus but within minutes it was too late, the guard suffocated to death.

Instead of helping her fellow mutants Mystique simple changed into her natural form and simple walked out of the prison. With everything that was happening she slipped by unnoticed and she made her way to the rendezvous point. Her natural appearance was blue scaly skin and long orange hair. Her eyes were yellow with no pupils. It was as if her eyes were completely blank. Although she had no need for it she still wore the suit she had stolen from the guard.

The Rendezvous point was around two hundred yards away from the prison on a small hill. From this hill anyone could see the insanity that was ensuing in the MDF below. A fire had been started in the north wing and mutants were escaping in their droves. The news reporters who had been there to cover a story were now running for their very lives. Police forces were also converging on the prison. A helicopter flew over and Mystique just watched it. She didn't like the fact that she had to wait.

Minutes later Quicksilver ran to the rendezvous point. He was soon followed by Pyro and eventually Toad came. For a few moments they looked at what had become of the MDF, they felt that their work had been done as they watched their fellow mutants escape to freedom. Everything had gone according to plan.

Suddenly a large metallic sphere came down from the sky. It was the size of a van and travelling at great speed. At first it looked like it was going to impact where the Brotherhood was waiting. But instead of impacting the sphere stopped just short of where the Brotherhood were standing. It opened up even though it didn't have any doors.

"Magneto is waiting for us," said Mystique with a smile. "Let's not keep him waiting."

One by one the Brotherhood stepped into the sphere. No sooner had the last of them entered the sphere it closed up and became whole once more. It then rose up into the air and flew west. Normally something like this would have been spotted by someone by at least one person. But all attention was being drawn to the MDF, by now it was an inferno started by a particular mutant who had a talent with fire.

The next morning in the mansion the morning had started off on a downer. Although Jean Grey had used her telekinesis to repair the damage to the roof of Cerebro it was nothing more than a band aid. Cerebro had been a total loss, Magneto had been very deliberate in his actions to completely destroy it. It would be months before Forge could rebuild it from scratch.

Wolverine had been blowing off steam in the Danger Room. He had fought Doctor Doom and Venom on the maximum danger level. When he was fighting nothing else seemed to matter. He only wished that all the world's problems could be solved with using his fists. But he knew that he would be a fool if he believed that. He wasn't the only one in the Danger Room however. Beast was in the control room trying to activate tougher protocols to try and over power Wolverine. His efforts were all in vein as Wolverine sliced down everything the Danger Room had to offer.

Bobby had been at Kitty's bedside almost since she had woken up. She was still extremely tired from over using both her powers. She was still getting her head around the fact that now she had a second power. It wasn't a power she particularly wanted but she had seen mutants who's powers had been more of a curse than a gift. She just hoped that she didn't have to use her secondary powers any time soon. She was glad that Bobby was here with her, she was bored lying there by herself and all the pair did was talk. They were trying to forget everything bad that was happening and they just talked about going to the movies when Kitty recovered. They were looking forward to the release of Return of the Jedi.

Inside the lab Forge was very worried with the theft of his mutant amplifier. He shuddered to think what Magneto would do with this device. But there was one thing that was plaguing his mind more than this. It was the fact that Magneto knew about the amplifier. Forge hadn't discussed it with his fellow X-Men and the device had never left the mansion. He was trying to figure out just how Magneto knew. He thought that it would be impossible for someone to break in without Jean or Xavier detected them. In fact Logan's senses would have picked them up as well. All he could think was that there was some kind of bug in the lab. Some kind of device that was letting Magneto hear everything that was happening.

Upstairs Scott and Jean were helping Xavier with his morning routines. Jean made him breakfast while Scott went out to get the morning newspaper. But it didn't take long for Xavier to hear about the events of the previous night. On the morning news there were many reports of the mass breakout at the MDF in Bismarck North Dakota. Several guards and mutants had been killed during the escape. What was most frightening however was that the Brotherhood was amongst the escaped mutants whose whereabouts were unknown to authorities.

As Scott returned to the mansion he could see that Xavier seemed to be in a world of his own. All of Xavier's fears were being realised, he felt that his dream was coming to an end. After everything that had happened he had no doubt that the humans would retaliate in some way and he dared not think of how. He had heard rumours about the Government making mutant hunting robots but he thought it was just something made up by someone who watched too much Star Trek. But if the rumours were true then the mutant population was in big trouble.

An hour later Xavier once again assembled the X-Men in the War Room. Kitty was the only X-Man not present since she was still recovering from the fight with the Brotherhood. All the other X-Men were there in their civilian clothes. They all knew that something was going to happen very soon. They just didn't know where and when.

"My X-Men times are dire," said Xavier. "When Magneto launches his next attack I believe it will be the end of the world as we know it." He then gave sigh and he tried to collect himself. "There is no doubt that Magneto is planning something big and this time we can not simple wait around for him to make the first move. We need to strike him first before he causes any more death and destruction." He then looked towards Forge. "Forge what can you tell us about the amplifier he stole?"

"My amplifier was incomplete," replied Forge. "It does work in a sense however. It does greatly amplify a mutant's abilities up to almost limitless capabilities. However I soon discovered that the device is actually harmful to anyone using it. It was a flaw I was in the process of fixing before it was stolen."

"So the device could potentially harm Magneto?" asked Scott. He was curious to why this was.

"Yes in fact it could kill him."

"It'll be doing the world a favour," snorted Logan.

"That's not the X-Men way Logan," snapped Xavier.

"But Magneto's a lost cause. If this amplifier kills him then good riddance. I'm not forgetting the time he made me stab Jean."

"No one is a lost cause not even Magneto."

"You're too kind for your own good Chuck."

"What do we do Professor?" asked Jean. Her voice seemed timid in comparison to that of Logan.

"I'm afraid for now I don't know," replied Xavier. "We are completely in the dark. We need to find out what he's up to and fast."

"Without Cerebro we can't even locate the Brotherhood."

"Can't we go Sherlock Holmes on them and find them the old fashioned way?" asked Bobby. "I bet Logan can sniff them out."

"Bobby the Brotherhood could be anywhere in the world," answered Hank. "Not even Logan's keen senses can find them if they're too far away. I seriously doubt that Magneto's base of operation is anywhere local."

"And unfortunately if we do have to deal with Magneto within the next day or so we won't be at our full strength," said Xavier. "Kitty is still recovering from your last outing. If what Hank says is right she won't be ready to re-join the team for another two days. I fear that Magneto will have started a war before then."

"What do you suggest we do Professor?" asked Scott.

"I'm afraid I don't know. Forge can look for some evidence of their location through the mansion's super computer. But other than that there is not much we can do." He felt that almost all hope had been lost. "You're dismissed X-Men."

For now all the X-Men did was go their separate ways. Jean decided that it was time to have a shower. Showers would always make her feel better no matter how down she felt. The running water through her hair made it seem like everything else didn't matter. Whenever she finished showering she would feel like a brand new woman.

When Jean entered the bathroom she was greeted with a Turkish style layout and a fresh pine odour. She turned on the shower and waited for the water to become warm. She waited for a minute before taking off her clothes and stepping in the shower. She began to wash herself with the soap and she felt very relaxed.

But as she was showering she began to hear someone giggling. At first it was too quiet to tell but as she focused her hearing she could hear it clearer. She used her telepathy to scan the area but all she sensed were the minds of the other X-Men. They were all too far away for her to hear them. She just put it out of her mind and continued showering. As the minutes went by she didn't hear anything, but just as she was about to forget about it she heard the giggling again. This time she knew that she wasn't hearing things. She paused for a moment and tried to focus where the giggling was coming from. She looked up towards the ceiling and saw a small hole in the wall on the opposite side of the shower head. She couldn't tell at first but she thought she could see someone inside. Using her telekinesis she pulled out whatever was through the hole.

Jean was surprised to see that it was a tiny man no more than 4 inches tall. He had a camera around his neck and he seemed to be wearing a hi tech leather suit. She could see a bulge in his pants and she soon realised what was happening. She used her hands to cover her private parts and rage over came her body.

This little man was known as Shortpack. He was a member of the Brotherhood but unlike them his powers didn't make him practical in a fight. He was best used for spying and sabotage. But there was one other thing that set him apart from the other members of the Brotherhood. He was vile pervert who would go to extreme lengths to satisfy his sexual needs. If he were a full size man he would be extremely dangerous to women. But his lack of stature made him almost harmless.

To Jean however he wasn't harmless. He had been spying on her while she was showering. She wanted to crush him with her telekinesis but she knew that she would regret it later in life.

"YOU PERVERT!" shouted Jean. Her voice was so loud that everyone in the mansion could hear her. They had never heard her shout like that before. Not even the time when she lost the best dress super heroine award to the Wasp in an issue of the Daily Bugle.

"Sue me Red," replied Shortpack. He wasn't flinched that he had been found out. He just seemed to enjoy constantly seeing Jean naked although now she was trying to cover herself up.

Several minutes later Shortpack had been taken down into the War Room. All the available X-Men were present but Shortpack didn't seem to be budged by them. He was sat down one a small table near the mansion's supercomputer. Hank was examining several tiny photographs that had been confiscated from the tiny spy. Much to his surprise Shortpack had taken photos of practically everything of importance in the mansion. There were pictures of what he and Forge had been working on in their labs, the controls and interior of the Danger Room, Cerebro, the War Room, the Ground floor and even pictures of Jean and Kitty changing their clothes and having showers. These last pictures were the most disturbing to him. The pictures were so small that he needed to use his microscope so that he could see them properly. But by now it was obvious how Magneto had gotten his information.

But now it was time to pry information from Shortpack. First Jean and Xavier attempted to use their telepathic abilities to read his mind. But much to their surprise they couldn't enter his mind. He just sat there chuckling at them.

"Telepathy doesn't work on me," laughed Shortpack. He then gave the X-Men a sick grin. "You're gonna have to a lot better than that to break me."

"Spill your guts bub!" demanded Logan in a growling voice. He walked over to the table where Shortpack was sitting. His claws popped out of his wrist and he brought them up right in front of the tiny spy. "Or I'll spill 'em for ya."

"Oh no the big bad Wolverine is coming to get me." Shortpack's voice was very sarcastic and he continued laughing. "Oh please don't be stupid I know you won't kill me. The information I have is too valuable to you. Kill me and you'll never find out what Magneto's up to."

"Don't be so certain bub." He then lifted his fist up but before he could throw it down Scott caught it. This angered Logan greatly and he growled at his teammate.

"That's enough Logan," said Scott. "He's right we need that information and we can't get it if he's dead."

"Smart boy and they say that you're the slow one," replied Shortpack.

"Who says that?"

"Everyone slim," replied Logan.

"This is getting us nowhere," interrupted Xavier. "The more time we waste with Shortpack the less time we have to stop Magneto."

"There is one way I'll talk," said Shortpack. "But you'll have to do something for me." He then looked over to Jean. "And Red there is going to do it for me."

"What do you want?" replied Jean cautiously.

"Come closer."

"You might be armed. I'm not that stupid."

"All my weapons were confiscated. I'm completely unarmed. And besides I'm your only shot and finding Magneto."

Jean reluctantly walked closer to Shortpack. She didn't want to get too close but he kept indicating that he wanted her to come closer. She eventually had to walk right up to him. He indicated that he wanted to whisper something in her ear. She reluctantly knelt down to his level and he began to whisper something in her ear. As the seconds went by Jean was becoming disgusted with what she was hearing.

"You can't be serious?" asked Jean.

"Oh I'm deadly serious," replied Shortpack with a chuckle. "And I mean dead!" He laughed even more at her. "So are you going to do it or am I gonna have to stay quiet while Magneto does whatever he needs to do."

"Fine!" snapped Jean. She then picked up the tiny man and walked out of the War Room. The other X-Men weren't sure about what was happening. But all they did was wait a few minutes before Jean walked back into the War Room with Shortpack. She seemed to be disgusted with herself and Shortpack had a huge smile on his face. "I know what Magneto's planning."

"But how did you…" replied Bobby. But before he could finish his sentence Jean snapped at him.

"Don't ask!" she snapped.

Minutes later the X-Men were suiting up ready to put Magneto's plan to a grinding halt. Shortpack had been placed in a rat cage that Hank would sometimes use. Shortpack couldn't escape from this cage and all he did was sit in a corner and take a drink out of the nearby hamster flask.

The X-Men learned that Magneto was transporting mutants off the planet and to various asteroids in the Earth's orbit. There were several rendezvous points around the world where mutants willing to follow him would be transported to one of the asteroids. The word had been spread to mutants by followers of Magneto. The closest rendezvous point to the X-Men was just outside of New York City. However they had to move fast since the mutants would be transported very soon.

Inside the hangar to the surprise of the X-Men they saw that Xavier was also coming along on the mission. He was wearing an exoskeleton on his legs that allowed him to walk. This exoskeleton had been designed and created by Forge but they were never intended to be used in a combat situation. They were only really for Xavier to use casually.

"What are you doing Professor?" asked Cyclops.

"I'm accompanying you on this mission," replied Xavier. "I can not sit here and allow you all to risk your lives without you knowing that I am also willing to risk mine. We need to stop Magneto's madness."

"It's a bad idea Professor. We knew that if you could you'd risk your life every day if it meant helping mutant/human relations. But this is too much even for you. I respectfully ask you to stay behind."

"And I respectfully decline your request. That is all I'll say on the matter."

"What about Kitty?" asked Ice-Man. "We can't leave her here by herself. What if Magneto decides to attack the mansion again?"

"I know it's a risk but it's a risk that we are both willing to take. If we fail we won't have a mansion to come back to. Katherine is aware of the risks." He then looked towards the Blackbird. "We don't have a moment to lose."

The X-Men were unsure exactly how to react to the fact that Xavier was coming along with them. They would admit that he would be an asset but he had never been on a mission with them before. He had seen combat in Korea but that had been over thirty years ago, he had not properly walked since the incident in the Himalayas.

But right now what was important was that they needed to stop Magneto before he could unleash his now almost limitless Magnetic powers. If Shortpack's information was correct then the X-Men would be going straight into the lion's den.

Meanwhile several miles above the Earth there was a very large asteroid orbiting the Earth. From up here the world looked beautiful and untouched. To the naked eye this asteroid was seemed like any other asteroid, but beneath it, it was much, much more. It had been tunnelled out and instead of all being solid rock it was now very hollow and filled with more metal than rock. This asteroid was nicknamed Asteroid M and had been Magneto's secret base of operation for some time. He sat in a makeshift throne room covered with various screens and computers. There was a very large window that had a beautiful view of the planet below. On the screens there were various news reports from all over the world. They were all talking about one thing in particular. They were all speaking about Mutants. Magneto was fluent in different languages so he could understand most of what was being said by the various news reporters. He was looking through the window and down at the earth. He seemed to be contemplating but his peace was shattered by the sudden arrival of his son Quicksilver. He ran into the room and stood right next Magneto.

"Father we have a problem," said Quicksilver.

"What is it Pietro?" replied Magneto. His mood wasn't the best since he acquired the mutant amplifier from the X-Men. "I do not want to be disturbed."

"Shortpack has not reported back. He may have been captured."

"It does not matter. I've been meaning to cut that pervert off for years. Only espionage skills made him bearable. He still needed to answer the allegations of spying on Wanda when she was alone in her room."

"That sick freak. I'll kill him."

"There is no need for that. Either the X-Men have killed him or he won't survive the next twelve hours." He then pointed towards the nearby exit. "Now go Pietro. Go back down to Earth and bring the rest of the mutants who are willing to join me."

"W-what about the ones who are unwilling?" stuttered Quicksilver.

"They will suffer the same fate as the humans." His voice was cold and even he was surprised that his father was willing to kill his own kind. But he dared not disobey him, he had done that once before with near dire consequences.

"Yes Father."

Quicksilver left Magneto to his own devices. Magneto stared down on the earth below. He could see the continents of Europe and Africa. He particularly looked at his homeland of Poland. Memories of the Holocaust raced through his mind. He could see the face of his mother and father before they were taken to the gas chambers. He wondered what he would have been like if they had of survived.

A few minutes later just outside New York a group of young mutants were beginning to gather. The number seemed to increase at an almost alarming rate. Within a couple of hours there several hundred mutants were there all waiting. They came in all different shapes, sizes, colours and ages. They were all waiting to what had been promised to them, they had been promised salvation from hatred and persecution and a world that would be ready for their kind.

Some mutants were beginning to think that nothing was going to happen but eventually they saw something in the sky. Since it was a cloudy day it was hard to tell what it was at first but eventually they could see that it was several large metal spheres coming down from the heavens. All the mutants seemed to cheer with anticipation as the spheres came closer and closer and it eventually landed right in front of them. One by one the spheres seemed to be opening up and the mutants began to enter the spheres. The spheres were very large and could house a couple of hundred mutants in each.

Toad of the Brotherhood was overseeing the operation. He thought that it would be an easy job but as mutants were pushing and shoving he was finding it difficult to keep control of everything. But things were going to get worse when he saw that the X-Men were amongst the mutants. They were mingled with the mutants piling into the first sphere. He was even surprised to see that Professor X was with them.

"Hey what are you lot doing here?" shouted Toad. He walked towards Professor X, he needed to move through some other mutants. "There's no place for X-Men in Magneto's world."

"You do not want us to leave," replied Professor X. He held his hand up in front of him and began to use his telepathy. It was almost like child's play to manipulate a mind as week as Toad's.

"I do not want you to leave." His voice was slow and sounded hypnotised. He was completely powerless against Professor X.

"You want us to come along."

"I want you to come along."

"Move along now."

"Move along now."

Toad then walked away and the X-Men all clambered into a sphere. There wasn't much room inside but there was enough room for every mutant who arrived. But when spheres closed up everyone was plunged into total darkness. Some became sacred but before they knew it they were lifted up into the air. They flew up like a dart travelling towards the sun. Within minutes they had left the earth's atmosphere and the oxygen inside the spheres was becoming very low. But almost as suddenly as the trip started it ended.

When the spheres reopened the mutants found themselves inside Magneto's main asteroid. As the mutants stepped off they were welcomed by Magneto's followers. Their role wasn't to fight for the Brotherhood but instead help mutants feel welcome on the asteroid. All mutants no matter how powerful or weak were welcome here.

Professor X used his mental powers to make them seem invisible to these mutant acolytes. The last thing he wanted was for Magneto to know that they were there. Magneto at normal power was more than a formidable opponent. Now that he had this mutant amplifier he dared not imagine just how powerful his former friend was.

There were too many minds around for Professor X to block. A couple of the mutants began to notice that the X-Men were on the asteroid. Not all of the mutants here disliked the X-Men, many of them in fact admired them and would have joined them if they knew where the team was located.

Slowly the X-Men began to separate due to the crowd. The importance of keeping a low profile was adamant, the team would have to try and re-group later but the plan was to locate the Mutant Amplifier and destroy it at all costs. Without it Magneto's sinister plan would never be realised.

One problem that the X-Men did have was that they didn't know where the amplifier was. Most likely Magneto would be keeping close to him but Shortpack had never revealed that to them. They were on the right asteroid but it was almost as large as a small city. It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Meanwhile in Magento's throne room the man himself was standing in front of a camera. Pyro was holding the camera this time but there was another mutant with them. He was a tall blond young man named Cypher. Although his real name was Doug Ramsey he had long forgotten that name. Although to most his powers were almost useless, but for this task they were just right.

"I am ready Pyro," said Magneto.

"Ok boss," replied Pyro. He then pushed a button on the camera.

This wasn't any ordinary camera however. With the push of the button what the camera was recording was appearing on every television station in the world. Everyone who was watching a TV could see Magneto on their screens. He was even appearing on large screens situated in cities. People walking by would stop and stare at them.

"Citizens of Earth I am Magneto," said Magneto. "Your time as the alpha species has come to an end. In less than eight hours I will be targeting the planet with meteors larger than that which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. There is no point in running for safety, any one of these meteors can hit with the force of ten billion Hiroshima bombs. Any human who is unfortunate to survive the impacts will be terminated and the planet be ruled by your rightful replacements. I give you this warning so that you may life out your last few hours in any way you see fit. Make peace with your deities I don't care, your end has come."

He then stepped away from the camera and Cypher stepped forward. He began to repeat Magneto's message but this time in French. As the broadcast went on he repeated the message in almost every language known to man. He even spoke the tongue of an Amazon tribe which did not even know the existence of the white man. Cypher even spoke in a couple of fictional and dead languages. But at the end of the broadcast the screens went back to normal as Magneto ordered the camera to be switched off.

"Good one boss," said Pyro. He gave Magneto the thumbs up. "That'll leave them quaking in the boots."

"It matters not Pyro," replied Magneto. "I only regret that it had to come to this. But if mutantkind has any chance of flourishing humans must be disposed of."

"Do I still rule Australia when everything's said and done?"

"For your loyalty that island is yours."

Meanwhile Jean and Professor X Had been scanning the asteroid looking for Magneto. Although his thoughts were being shielded by the helmet they were able to pick up the minds of Pyro and Cypher. Professor X could even see the world through Pyro's eyes and he could see Magneto. But on a small metallic table Professor X caught the image that he had been looking for. He saw the same device that he had seen in Forge's plans, it took him only moments to realise that this was the very amplifier that they were looking for. Even if he died destroying it, it would save the lives of billions.

"X-Men!" shouted Professor X through telepathy to the others. "I have located the amplifier but it is in the presence of Magneto. We must destroy it at all costs, if Magneto's plans succeed billions of innocent people will die. You have had no more important task than this in your lives. I pray that we make it out in one piece."

Wolverine was the closest to the amplifier, but his problem was that he could not take on Magneto head on. His adamantium skeleton was all too easy for the Master of Magnetism to control. Once he used his powers to make Wolverine attack the other X-Men, during that time he seriously injured Jean. If it hadn't of been for Beast's surgical talents Jean would have died.

Under normal circumstances Wolverine would have waited for the others before attacking Magneto. But with the fate of the world at stake Wolverine would have to take that chance, every second that went by brought the world closer to its doom. He would admit that he wasn't always humanity's biggest fan but he could not let the genocide of a species happen under his watch.

His best strategy was to get Magneto away from the amplifier and then destroy it. Although Magneto would simple kill him afterwards the world would be safe. His sacrifice would be meaningful since Magneto was one of the few people in the world who could actually kill him with ease.

The task however would be easier said than done. Magneto wasn't the kind who would be fooled easily. But it would also only take a moment for Wolverine to destroy the device, his claws could cut through practically anything. It would be like a warm knife going through butter. He would have to hit them hard, fast and destroy the device before anyone knew what was happening.

Just then he noticed Ice-Man not too far away in the crowd of mutants. He used a special whistle that the X-Men would use to signal each other. He knew that Ice-Man would be a big help in destroying the device. If they had any luck they could actually survive Magento's onslaught.

Eventually Ice-Man was able to make his way to where Wolverine was. Like Wolverine he had also heard Professor X's broadcast. The other X-Men were still separated due to the number of mutants here. If Storm had still been with the team her claustrophobia would have gone through the roof. If she had of been there the mission would have been much easier, but time had not been on the side of the X-Men. By the time Storm would have been located the human population would have been obliterated.

"Wolverine did you hear the Professor?" asked Ice-Man.

"Yeah," replied Wolverine. "And we're not far from Magneto. By the time the others get here it'll be too late."

"We really should wait for the others. I hate to admit it but we can't beat Magneto by ourselves."

"There's no time!" Wolverine snapped at Ice-Man. At this moment in time nerves were running high. "By the time we're back together New York might be a crater. We can't wait for the others."

"But I'ts suicide."

"We don't need to beat Magneto. We only need to destroy Forge's device and the world is saved. If we fail then humanity is as good as extinct."

Minutes later Magneto was still watching the various screens, all of whom had news coverage from around the world. They were all reporting about Magneto's message and as he watched a slight smile appeared on his face. He was close to achieving his life's ambition. He thought that it was somewhat unfortunate that Charles Xavier wouldn't see his new world order.

Inside the room Pyro had remained where Cypher had left since his role was complete. Pyro was here in case anything unforeseen happened. Magneto never doubted his own abilities but he couldn't be too careful. Numerous times he had been close to victory only to have it snatched away from him. Slowly he turned towards Pyro and looked at him with a small amount of glee.

"Are you ready Pyro?" asked Magneto.

"For what boss?" replied Pyro. He had never seen Magneto like this. He didn't know whether to be happy or terrified.

"For the rise of mutantkind without fear of persecution or hatred. A world where the mutants are strong and humanity just a memory. Soon I will have created the perfect world. We would have taken our rightful place."

"I g-guess so boss." He then began to feel a little cold. He began rub his arms in an attempt to get himself warm without using his powers. "Is it me or is it getting cold in here? Who forgot to pay the heating bill?"

As Magneto looked around he saw that there was ice forming on the floor and ceiling. He soon realised that this drop in temperature wasn't natural. There was only one person he knew that could do something like this.

"We're under attack!" shouted Magneto. But as he looked at his hands he saw that they were also freezing over. The temperature was decreasing too rapidly to for him to properly react. "Stop the temperature from getting any lower before we freeze."

Pyro then attempted to use his powers but the tubes that led from the fuel source to his hands had frozen over. But by now ice was forming all around both him and Magneto. Within seconds both figures had also frozen over. Normally they would have frozen to death but this ice seemed different. It was cold inside but not cold enough to stop the vital organs from functioning. The only problem was that there was a very limited oxygen source. If they didn't break free within a couple of minutes they would be dead.

Seconds after they had frozen over Wolverine and Ice-Man entered the throne room. By now it looked more like a glacier rather than an actual room. The mutant amplifier was still on the nearby table but now it was stuck. The ice was holding it to the table but it wouldn't be a problem when Wolverine got his hands on it. There was no ice too hard for him to break through with ease.

"Hey Magneto!" laughed Ice-Man. He almost couldn't control his own laughter. "Freeze why don't ya?" He continued to laugh but Wolverine wasn't finding the situation very funny. There was still work to be done.

At this moment in time Magneto was helpless. It would be easy for Wolverine to simple stab Magneto and extinguish his life. But Professor X wouldn't want it that way. Killing was never the X-Men's way.

"Can the jokes Ice-Man," snapped Wolverine. "It's not over yet."

Wolverine attempted to run to the amplifier but could barely move. It wasn't due to the floor being frozen, he couldn't move any part of his body. What he feared was becoming reality, he thought that the ice would incapacitated Magneto but it seemed that he still had consciousness. Wolverine's arms moved out to the side of his body and he was thrown into the ceiling. He hit the ceiling hard and then was thrown to the ground with a loud thud.

Ice-Man could see what was happening but was powerless to do anything about it. As he looked towards Magneto the seemingly unbreakable ice shattered around the Master of Magnetism. An unimaginable streak of fear came over Ice-Man. He had thought him several occasions before and each time he felt lucky to be alive. This time however he truly thought that this was going to be his end.

"A feeble attempt X-Men," said Magneto. He then used his powers to shatter the ice surrounding Pyro. He continued to keep Wolverine pinned to the ground. "You X-Men are like ants where there is one there is most likely more. But it matters not, there is nothing you can do that can stop the extinction of mankind." He then looked over to Pyro who was still shivering. "Pyro warn the others we won't leave nothing to chance."

Nearby on a wall there was a button and a microphone. Pyro quickly ran over to it and pressed the button. Alarms began to go off around the asteroid. Many of the mutants began to panic. However Magneto's Acolytes was keeping everyone calm. But the Brotherhood knew that there was trouble.

"Intruder alert," said Pyro through the intercom. "All Brotherhood members report to the throne room immediately."

It was not only the Brotherhood who heard the announcement. The other X-Men also heard it as clear as day. To Professor X the chances of their mission being a success had decreased dramatically. Now that the element of surprise had gone he thought that his team stood little chance against Magneto with the amplifier.

He was able to sense that Wolverine and Ice-Man were inside the throne room and currently at Magneto's mercy. The others were fairly close to where he was. During all the confusion no one had really noticed the other X-Men. Some were more concerned about getting a good view of the Earth before Magneto started eradicating the humans. Others were not as heartless as the others. They couldn't watch the murder of billions and instead tried to find some way to keep themselves occupied.

"X-Men!" shouted Professor X through telepathy. "Wolverine and Ice-Man have been captured. We need to rescue them if we have any chance of success. Rendezvous with me at this location. I will be waiting here."

As Professor X waited more and more of the X-Men were coming to him. Cyclops was the first followed by Jean Grey, then Forge and then finally Beast. But by now all of the Brotherhood was in the throne room. Quicksilver and Toad were adding insult to injury to Wolverine. They were kicking Wolverine and spitting on him while he was lying there helpless to stop them.

Ice-Man was bolted to the wall by several iron bars controlled by Magneto. For the Master of Magnetism this was very simple. He didn't like the fact that Quicksilver and Toad were messing with Wolverine. He felt that there were more important things to do than to insult a defeated enemy.

Blob was hitting on the Scarlet Witch, he had been courting her for some years but she never returned his advances. He was still annoyed with the fact that Shadowcat had defeated him in Steele. If he ever fought her again this time he would make sure he beat her before she pulled out any unexpected tricks. But right now his main focus was trying to get the Scarlet Witch's attention.

"Hey Wanda when everything's all said and done I'm gonna name a city after you in Texas," said Blob in a weak attempt to impress her. He put a smile on his face and she just crossed her arms.

"You can name an entire continent after me it still doesn't change the fact I'm not interested," replied Wanda. "When I get my half of Europe you're going to be barred from there."

"No one can stop the Blob from going anywhere he wants to go."

"Enough!" shouted Magneto. This got the attentions of all the Brotherhood members. "You are all wasting time and energy. Every second you waste here gives the X-Men more time to attack and attempt to foil my plans."

"But it's over boss," replied Pyro. "There's nothing they can do to stop you. You're pretty much omnipotent."

"The X-Men have a habit of gaining victory out of the jaws of defeat. I want you to make sure that they can do nothing to stop us." He then walked over to the nearby metal table and picked up the amplifier. "I might have to move up the meteor strikes if the worst comes to the worst."

"Don't it Magneto," said Ice-Man. Magneto had not expected him to speak. He walked over to Ice-Man and stared him down.

"Give me one good reason why."

"Forge said the amplifier is in-complete. If you use it it'll fry ya."

"You're lying X-Man."

"No it's true bub," replied Wolverine. Magneto then looked over to Wolverine who was still magnetically attached to the ground. "You use that and it'll be the last thing you ever do. It's not worth it."

"Even if that's true it matters little. Even if I die using it the Earth will be free of humanity. My people will not have to live in fear, they can flourish and that is something I will gladly die to achieve."

By now Wolverine knew that there was truly no stopping Magneto. He didn't expect that Magneto would die for all the mutants. He was still helpless on the ground, several times he attempted to move any part of his body. He couldn't even move his little finger, for once his fate was completely out of his hands. If Magneto did succeed he doubted that he would allow him to live after everything between them.

Magneto turned around and walked to the windows overlooking the Earth. He stared at it and then looked towards the Brotherhood.

"Rejoice my faithful disciples," said Magneto. "We will no longer be hunted or persecuted, we will be on top. I have all of you to thank for this forthcoming victory. There is only one minor loose end to deal with. Terminate the X-Men with extreme prejudice and finally we will be victorious."

The Brotherhood prepared to move out but then Toad noticed that a wall near where he was standing was turning red. At first he didn't know what was happening but then a huge optic blast broke through the wall and hit him at full force. The blast wasn't fatal but it took Toad out of the fight.

The other Brotherhood members were caught completely by surprise and they soon realised that they were under attack. Where there had once been a wall now there was a large gaping hole more than six feet across. This was where they saw the remaining members of the X-Men coming through. Cyclops was leading this so called charge followed by Professor X and the others. Magneto was surprised to see that Professor X was in the group and seemingly walking.

"Sorry to interrupt," said Cyclops. "We wanted to find a room with a view. X-Men attack and don't hold back."

The X-Men began to spread out within the room. Professor X stayed back however. His eyes were fixed on Magneto and visa-versa. The pair had barely moved since the attack had started. Right now there it was four X-Men fighting four members of the Brotherhood. Their powers and skills were roughly on par.

Cyclops was up against the behemoth Blob. He fired his optic blasts at Blob but it didn't seem to be doing any damage at all. Blob's layers of fat were protecting him from any harm. He laughed at Cyclops attempts and he even farted.

"Oh my, was that me?" laughed Blob. "Too bad it's you and not that Kitty cat here. I have a bone to pick with her." He then laughed once again. "In fact I'd more than just pick her bones."

"Unfortunately for you you're not going to get the chance," replied Cyclops. "You might be unmovable but even you obey the laws of gravity." He then aimed his optic blasts at the floor directly below Blob's feet. Within seconds the blasts had obliterated part of the floor. Now that the floor was gone underneath Blob he dropped like a stone down to the floor underneath. But he was so large that he kept falling through the floors. Cyclops looked down at smiled to himself. "Game, set and match."

Jean was fighting the Scarlet Witch which was going to be an unpredictable match. Like Jean the Scarlet Witch could also use her powers to move objects. But her powers also gave her an X factor, since no one truly knew their limits almost anything could happen. Around them several items were floating around. Some of them began to dart at Jean and some at the Scarlet Witch. Before any of the objects could hit their target they were deflected preventing any damage.

Meanwhile Quicksilver was running around the room, there wasn't much space for him. He was punching many of the X-Men before they had any chance to react. To him it seemed to be one big game and he was winning. But he felt the bottom of his feet were stuck to the floor, when he looked he saw that they had been encased by ice. He looked over to Ice-Man and saw that he had gotten a hand free.

"You stupid popsicle!" shouted Quicksilver. "When I get my hands on you you're mother ain't gonna be able to recognise you."

Just then he felt a bolt of energy hit him. It was like he was being electrocuted and he screamed out in pain. A couple of seconds he fell to the ground unconscious. Not too far away Forge was holding the smoking gun and he smirked.

"Try dodging that one speedy," he smirked.

Lastly Pyro was trying to burn all the hair off of Beast's body. But the agile mutant was able to jump his way out of danger. This was getting Pyro annoyed, not matter how hard he tried it seemed that Beast could not be stopped. He was bolting around as if he was an Olympic gymnast.

"Stay still you bloody blue fur ball!" shouted Pyro.

"I fear that you do not comprehend the severity of your situation my Australian friend," replied Beast. He then jumped to the celling and bounced down behind Pyro. He grabbed the device on Pyro's back and ripped it off. Without the constant source of fire Pyro was practically powerless. "And now the endgame is at hand."

"What the bloody hell did you do?"

As Pyro turned around Beast grabbed his arm and wrapped it around his neck. Beast then pulled down sending Pyro to the ground, the move almost ripped his arm out of his socket and he was in great pain. But now like many of his comrades he was out of the fight.

During all the conflicts Professor X and Magneto remained unmoved. Their eyes had not diverted to any of the attentions around them. Both were fixated on each other and had not moved an inch. Perhaps two of the most powerful mutants the world had ever seen were locked in what seemed to be a staring contest. But there was a lot more happening than just staring contest. Like Professor X Magneto had mental powers, they were nowhere near as powerful as Professor X's or any low level telepath. But unseen to everyone else Professor X and Magneto were on a higher plain, here they had no physical bodies but instead were their astral projections. Due to his helmet Professor X could not harm Magneto, also since Magneto's telepathic abilities were so minor he could not harm Professor X either. All they could do was talk to each other.

"Erik I beg you," said Professor X. "Stop this madness, listen to reason."

"I can not Charles," replied Magneto. "Unlike you I can see what will happen if I don't do it. We'll be rounded up, the ones who can benefit humanity will be worked to death and the useless or dangerous ones will be put down like diseased animals."

"Humanity can change Erik. I have seen the good in them, it's about time started to see that as well."

"You are a fool, you are a dreamer to the end. I on the other hand am a realist and do what needs to be done."

"And I will stop you with every fibre of my being."

With that both Professor X and Magneto returned to their respective bodies. Magneto had enough of all this fighting, he empowered several strips of metal and hurled them at the X-Men. With each one he caught he attached them to the wall next to Ice-Man. Try as they may the X-Men couldn't stop being captured by Magneto. He was seemingly too powerful for them. In less than a minute all of the remaining X-Men had been strapped to the wall. Only Wolverine was still pinned to the ground.

The Scarlet Witch was the only member of the Brotherhood still standing. With the others incapacitated they would miss what seemed to be Magneto's great victory. He didn't want to waste any more time. The X-Men's attack had forced him to move his plan up; he was going to start the attacks immediately.

"In a way it's a good thing you came Charles," said Magneto feeling that his victory was assured. "You can watch as everything you've worked for goes up in flames. It's a shame really, if only you had my vision you would have been a powerful ally."

"I'm glad I don't have your vision," replied Charles. "I tried to see that there was some good left in you, but now all I see is a shell of a man. I'm glad that Magda isn't alive to see the monster you've become."

"YOU ARE NOT WORTHY TO SPEAK HER NAME!" It seemed that Professor X had struck a nerve.

Magda had been the wife of Erik shortly after he was released from the concentration camps. They had a daughter together but she died at the age of twenty three days due to a heart defect. Not too long after there was further tragedy when Magda herself disappeared without a trace. She had not taken any of her belongings or left any notes. He also couldn't find where she had disappeared to. She had seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet. This was one of the reasons why he was so bitter.

Magneto calmly activated the device and as it powered up it began to emit a low humming noise. Forge knew what the device was capable of, but he also knew what damage it could. He was trying to figure out how he could use this to his advantage.

After the device was activated Magneto could feel his magnetic abilities grow rapidly. His body was surging with absolute power and he felt like a god. His hands began to glow bright silver and his eyes went as dark as the night sky. Wanda took a step back as she watched him laugh with victory.

"This is fantastic!" shouted Magneto. "I have the powers of a God! No one can stop me now I am all powerful!"

With what seemed to be minimum effort Magneto began to use his powers to attract the meteors floating around the immediate area. He ignored the ones that would do minimum damage, instead he more focused on the ones that were the size of a city. He was surprised to see so many close to the Earth and with just a thought he sent them hurtling towards the planet.

But as Magneto used his powers he could feel his euphoria turning into mind numbing pain. He realised that what the X-Men had told him wasn't entirely false. He had never experienced pain like this in his life, any normal man would have passed out immediately but his resilience kept him going.

He did not notice that his powers were beginning to weaken as his body degraded. Wolverine felt the force pinning him down weaken. With great effort himself to his feet but he could still barely move. To him his body weighed ten-fold and it took almost all his strength just to get up.

After several seconds Wolverine slowly made his way towards Magneto, if he failed now everyone would suffer. Magneto wouldn't let the X-Men live in his new world order and humanity would be extinct. Each footstep however was taking a lot out of the brave mutant, instinct alone was the only thing keeping him going.

Scarlet Witch saw that Wolverine was moving towards Magneto. She used her powers to try and stop him but it seemed to be fruitless. She was sending metal shards into his body but he still kept going. Bloody and battered Wolverine was able to remove one of the metal shards from his body and he threw it at the Scarlet Witch. The blunt side struck her in the head and was only able to stun her for a minute.

This was all the time Wolverine had to stop Magneto. However he wasn't completely blind to what was going on. He could see that Wolverine was only a few steps away from him. He turned his attentions to the X-Man but now his abilities had weakened greatly. He was still in great pain but now instead of feeling victorious now he was full of fear.

As Wolverine moved closer he was able to extend his claws in his right hand and raise them to the air. Magneto continually tried to use his magnetic powers to stop him. But as he weakened his abilities were failing him and Wolverine was finding it easier to move. The finale was only moments away.

With one foul swoop Wolverine's claws came down and sliced through Magneto's left wrist like scissors going through paper. His left hand had been severed from the rest of his body and his wrist was bleeding in bulk. The combination of the injury and the effects of the amplifier finally made the all-powerful Magneto fall.

Wolverine did not hesitate in destroying the amplifier attached to Magneto. He sliced it with his claws and the device was left in four large pieces. Also with Magneto down the X-Men were released from their metal bonds and the meteors hurtling towards Earth stopped dead in their tracks.

Wolverine wanted to end Magneto's life but Professor X walked up to him and put his hand on his shoulder. The Scarlet Witch ran to Magneto's aid but there wasn't anything she could do to help. All she could do was attempt to dress his wound and hold him.

"No Logan," said Professor X. He was using his mental abilities to try and calm Wolverine down but they were not as potent on his student. "It's over Magneto is helpless."

"Are you just going to forget everything he's done Professor," snapped Wolverine with a grunt. "He showed us no mercy and has killed countless innocence."

"But he is helpless now Logan. Killing him won't make any difference. Raise above it my friend, show him that you are better than him."

With great reluctance Wolverine retracted his claws and began to walk away. He removed the other shards that was in his body and the wounds began to heal over. The other X-Men stood there in silence.

"This time you got lucky Magneto," grunted Wolverine. "Just make sure I don't regret sparing him Chuck."

Wolverine left the throne room and the other X-Men looked over to Professor X. Unfortunately the battery in his exoskeleton was running out. He fell to the ground as once more his legs had failed him. Beast and Cyclops ran over to him and helped him up to his feet. They were very worried about their mentor.

"Professor are you alright?" asked Cyclops. There was great concern in his voice.

"Yes Cyclops I am uninjured," replied Professor X. "Unfortunately Forge's invention seems to have run out of power."

"What now Professor? What do we do with Magneto?"

"Nothing he's done for. Let us head to the escape pods, I am getting tired of this place."

With that Cyclops and Beast carried Professor X out of the throne room. The other X-Men were soon to follow leaving the Scarlet Witch alone with Magneto. He was still alive but in a deep coma, one he would most likely never recover from.

Magneto's plans might have gone up in smoke but his actions would have negative consequences on the human-mutant relations. Although the Earth had been saved for now there was still worse to come.

The End

Next Murder World.


	2. Volume 2: Murderworld

A couple of weeks had passed since Magneto attempted to destroy the human race. Awaiting their doom some parts of the planet had experienced levels of hysteria. But when the meteors didn't come calm eventually returned. No one knew that the X-Men had been responsible for the Earth's salvation. Rumours had gone around that the Avengers had stepped in to intervene in the situation although it had been denied by the team.

Magneto and the Brotherhood had not been active since the X-Men had stopped their plans. Although Magneto himself was still alive he was no threat to the planet. He was still in a coma on his asteroid as his followers tried everything to awaken their fallen leader.

However many governments of the world were now pushing forward acts that would further alienate the mutants from the human societies. A few countries in Asia had already brought forward laws that mutants would greatly regret. The event had also brought more support towards Senator Robert Kelly's cause. His calls for the Mutant Registration Act was gaining more support both outside and inside the US Congress. It only seemed like a matter of time before the Act would be voted in.

Meanwhile things had seemingly gone on as usual for the X-Men, they socialised and trained in using their powers. However one of the X-Men had gone through a couple of changes. The mansion's security had been beefed up so that spies would have a more difficult time getting in and leaking out information. Forge and Beast had used this to experiment a little with some working better than others. Shortpack himself was still being held until Professor X had decided what to do with him. He would surely be killed if he handed him over to the authorities and he was still a risk to the team if he was let go on his own free will. Also during this time Forge was drawing up plans on a new and improved Cerebro since the previous model had been destroyed when Magneto attacked the mansion.

In a fashion store in New York Jean Grey was waiting outside the changing rooms. It was one of the few days she had chance to get out of the mansion and do some shopping. She wasn't alone however. A very good friend of hers was inside one of the changing rooms trying on some new clothes.

"It's no good," said a woman's voice with some distress.

"Come on it can't be that bad," replied Jean. She tried to sound more encouraging. "Come on out and let me take a look."

Jean waited a few seconds before a very tall woman came out of the changing rooms. But this woman was no stranger to her. This woman was her fellow X-Man Kitty Pryde. She was no longer the average height woman she had once been.

Within days of Kitty's secondary powers activating she noticed that she was getting taller. At first she thought that she was being paranoid but as the days went on the change was becoming more noticeable. She gaining several inches in as many days and there seemed to be no way in stopping it. She feared that she could keep growing until she was truly a giant but thankfully her height levelled off at six foot two, a full eight inches taller than her previous height. Her height increase also made her one of the tallest members of the X-Men and she didn't like it one bit.

Also during this time Professor X had encouraged her to explore her new powers even though she was reluctant to do so. However no matter how hard she tried she couldn't reach the heights that she did when her secondary mutation first activated in Steele. In the Danger Room sessions she could barely go over seven feet but she also discovered that whenever she increased her size she couldn't use her phasing abilities. She felt embarrassed when using her other powers. She much preferred her original powers and she decided that she would only use when absolutely necessary.

Unfortunately Kitty's increase in height also came with another problem. Her casual clothes no longer fit her and she was finding it very difficult to replace them. Even when she was her previous height Kitty had very long legs and had some difficulties getting pants that fitted. Now that she had grown the task was almost impossible.

Even when she walked out of the changing rooms the pants she was trying on were too short even though they were the longest pair the store had in stock. She hated the fact that her legs were to her freakishly long.

"See Jean they don't fit," said Kitty. "Doesn't this stupid store make pants that actually fit me?" She was getting annoyed and Jean picked this up.

"Calm down Kitty," replied Jean. She tried to make her voice sound calming although it didn't seem to be working very well. "Just get changed again and we'll find somewhere else."

"Fine," answered Kitty in a huff.

Kitty walked back into the changing rooms and got changed back into her clothes. She was having to wear a short dress since she didn't own any pants that fit her and a pair of flip flops. Again she didn't own any proper shoes that fit her and for now this was the next best thing. She picked up her bag and left the store pants on a rack where other clothes were waiting to be put back on the shelves.

Immediately after Kitty and Jean left the store. Kitty was getting some looks since not many people had seen many women as tall as she was. She didn't like all the attention she was getting and it wasn't particularly a very warm day and the cold breeze froze her bare legs. This was further adding to her discomfort.

"Cheer up Kitty," said Jean. "I know a big and tall women's fashion store a few miles away. They'll surely have something that'll fit."

"I hope so," replied Kitty. "I hate wearing these clothes every day. And I want something that I can actually look good in."

By now the women had reached the road and Jean hailed a taxi and she was surprised with how fast one pulled up. Normally she would have to wait a few minutes but this time it only took a couple of seconds. It was as if the taxi had been waiting for them. But as the women got into the back of the taxi Kitty was having some difficulties. Again her legs were working against her and she was struggling to get herself inside. She had to scrunch up her legs so that she could fit in her seat.

"Where to ladies?" asked the driver. The driver had a distinctive scar on his right cheek and New York accent.

"Molly's Big and Tall please," replied Jean.

"I'll get you there in a jiffy."

The taxi calmly pulled off and made its way down the street. The women didn't notice that the doors had been locked and the driver had put on a small gas mask. The pair were chatting to one another before Jean began to sense that something was wrong. But she felt herself begin to blackout. She realised that they were being affected by an odourless gas, she tried to warn Kitty about it but she saw that she had already succumbed to the gas and within seconds she too went into a deep sleep.

Around the same time in Salem Centre the other members of the X-Men were going around their daily businesses. In the mansion's gym Logan lifting weights trying to increase his strength. Many people ultimately assumed that he had superhuman strength like Spider-Man or the Hulk. In reality his mutant powers did not affect his strength levels in the slightest, his strength level was around the peak any normal man could achieve.

Normally Logan would be training in the Danger Room but it was currently offline while Hank was upgrading the programs. Logan wasn't all that fussed with fancy terrain trickery or lightshows. All he cared about was whether it was up to his training standards. Many a times he had been severely disappointed.

At first Logan did not notice Bobby enter the gym, but he could eventually smell the young X-Man. He looked over to him and Bobby just stood leaning on the door frame. Bobby began to lower the temperature in the room until it was the same as an industrial freezer. Anyone would think that he was trying to sabotage Logan but this had been done at his request. With the temperature being lowered it was pushing Logan further towards his limits. He panted as he lifted the weights time and time again, but after several minutes even he had had enough. He dropped the weights on the ground and brushed the frozen sweat off his forehead.

By now Bobby had stopped using his powers and the temperature of the gym began to slowly rise again. He walked over to where Logan was sitting and he seemed to laugh at his tired friend.

"Was that good enough for ya Logan?" asked Bobby. "If you want I can make it as cold as the South Pole."

"Next time popsicle," panted Logan. "I'm beat."

"I thought you never got tired."

"My healing powers do a lot but even I need rest. And besides I bet you couldn't lift any of my weights."

"Yeah right. I bet you ten bucks I could." Bobby's confidence seemed to be growing. As of yet he had never lost a wager with Logan.

"You're on popsicle."

Logan then moved to one side and Bobby sat down on the chair. He attempted to pick up the dumbbell weights but he couldn't budge them. He took a firm grasp of them but he still couldn't lift up the weights. Logan began to laugh as he watched his friend struggle to lift the dumbbells.

"Having trouble there?" laughed Logan.

"No just warming up," grunted Bobby. He was tensing his muscles and continually trying to lift the weights but there was still nothing.

"You gonna give up?"

"Hell no."

Bobby's face was turning bright red as his muscles were seemingly failing him. Logan was continually laughing at him and all this seemed to do was motivate the young mutant. But even he eventually admitted defeat. He let go of the dumbbells and like Logan before began to pant. He then reluctantly took a ten dollar bill from his pocket and gave it to Logan. Logan then sniffed the bill.

"You know what they're right," said Logan. "Money won is twice as sweet as money earned."

But suddenly Logan began to smell a scent that seemed to be strangely familiar to him. He continued to sniff the air and there was definitely something that was catching his attention. He stopped laughing at Bobby and began to look around, at first there didn't seem to be anything off at first. Bobby could see that there was something bothering his friend. But he could not tell that anything was wrong.

"What is it Logan?" asked Bobby with some concern.

"I smell something," replied Logan. "Something I've not smelt since I was a…"

"Jedi?" interrupted Bobby trying to be funny.

"No popsicle. Something far worse."

Just then out of thin air a figure appeared wearing a red and black suit that covered every part of his body. He had twin swords strapped to his back, pistols in holsters on his sides and a strange oval device on the centre of his belt. His sudden appearance caught both X-Men by surprise and instantly Logan extended the claws from his knuckles and Bobby iced over his body to create an ice shield.

"Hey there Logan long time no see old buddy old pal," said the mysterious stranger so fast that it was hard to pick up what he was saying.

"Wade!" snarled Logan.

"Oh please that name is bland and boring. Call me Deadpool I've heard the ladies love it." He then pulled out his semi-automatic pistols and began to fire at both the X-Men. But each time he fired a shot he would shot BANG.

Bobby created a larger ice shield in front of himself. But unexpectedly Deadpool tapped a button on the belt device and he disappeared once again. He reappeared immediately afterwards behind him. He then knocked the brave X-Man in the back of his neck knocking him out. His intentions had never been to kill him, he seemed to want Bobby alive.

Everything had happened so fast that Logan didn't have enough time to protect Bobby from Deadpool. But by now the remaining X-Men were aware that something was wrong. Xavier had sensed what was happening and alerted the others.

Before any of the X-Men could come reach the gym Logan and Deadpool were fighting each other with great ferocity. Deadpool had put his guns away and was instead attacking Logan with his twin swords, but when Logan saw an opportunity he thrust his claws deep into Deadpool's chest.

"Oh God what have you done Logan you've killed me that's what you've done," groaned Deadpool. He then took a step back as he laughed and his chest began to heal over. "Whatdyaknow I'm cured."

"What the hell?" replied Logan with a confused look on his face.

Deadpool then threw his swords up into the air directly above him. He then pulled out his guns and fired at Logan several times. He then put his guns away and caught the falling swords. By now Logan was riddled with bullets and down momentarily. The injuries would have killed any normal man but to Logan it would only be a matter of time before he was up on his feet again.

"Jobsagooden," said Deadpool. He then put grabbed the fingers of Bobby and Logan with his one hand and with the other his activated the device once again and he disappeared into thin air.

Seconds later Cyclops and Forge arrived to the gym but they couldn't see anything. There was some evidence of a fight but gym was empty. Xavier in his sitting room was scanning the mansion but he couldn't pick up anything of the missing X-Men. Without Cerebro he couldn't expand his search any further. It was still being reconstructed by Forge and still a long way from completion.

"What the hell happened?" asked Cyclops as he continued to look around. "Where are Logan and Bobby."

"Gone," replied Forge. He walked over to some burn marks on the ground. The burn mark however wasn't from the gun fire. He squatted down to the mark and rubbed it with his right index and middle finger. "From the looks of it they've been teleported."

"Teleported? Nightcrawler could teleport, maybe it's another mutant that has similar abilities."

"Maybe but Nightcrawler never left burn marks when he teleported. This looks more technology based than natural ability."

"Is that even possible? You tried to make a teleporter and that didn't work out. Are you telling me that someone's achieved something you couldn't?"

"Not only that it seems to be a miniaturised version. The one I attempted required two pods, one to enter and one to teleport to. That couldn't happen here however, whoever did this has access to technology until now I haven't even conceived."

Several minutes later what was left of the X-Men had regrouped in Xavier's sitting room. Xavier himself was sitting in his wheelchair by the fire. What he feared seemed to be coming to life, his beloved X-Men seemed to be taken by an unknown and unpredictable force. This mysterious enemy had attacked the mansion without provocation or warning. Worse yet he had not received any word from Jean or Kitty and he feared that they had also been taken.

"My X-Men I fear we have a new enemy," said Xavier. "Roughly fifteen minutes ago Logan and Robert were kidnapped off mansion grounds by an unknown enemy. To top everything off I have attempted to contact Jean in New York with no luck. With both our telepathic abilities we should still be able to contact each other. I am left to assume that they too have been taken hostage."

"This is getting ridiculous," replied Cyclops with some anger in his voice. "How long will it be until we're all kidnapped? We have to rescue them before they're hurt or worse. If they do anything to Jean I swear I will not be held responsible for my actions." He couldn't bear the thought of losing her. She was his soul mate and to him life wasn't worth living if she was taken from him.

"Scott please remain calm," said Hank. "I don't think things are quite straight forward here. If they wanted to outright kill them they would have done it there and then. The chances of this being a ransom are extremely slim, there is no one really related to the X-Men who have a lot of money. Except maybe Charles but I find that very unlikely. There is a purpose to the kidnapping but I fear that if we don't act soon we might never see our friends again."

"I've taken steps into tracking down our mysterious kidnapper," added Forge. He then looked into a handheld device. "I think I can pinpoint the energy used by the teleporter our friend used. Most likely with a small size teleport device I doubt that they could have travelled long distances."

Meanwhile some miles away Bobby was waking up in what seemed to be an unfamiliar place. His head was hurting and everything around him was black, but as his vision began to return he saw that he wasn't in the mansion anymore. To him it looked like he was in some kind of giant pinball machine. At first he couldn't remember what happened but after several seconds his memory began to return.

He could not see any way out, all he could see were flashing lights and numbers written on the ground. He ran towards one of the nearby walls, fully iced over and shot a beam of ice at the wall. He expected it to simple shatter but instead the wall heated up almost instantly and melted the sub-zero ice. Bobby took a step back and began to fire ice at almost anything he saw. To his amazement and fear the ice would melt off everything that froze. He realised that this room was specially designed to neutralise his powers.

"Where the hell am I?" asked Ice-Man.

He was becoming more and more desperate as he frantically tried to find an escape. He knew that if he didn't escape soon high temperatures would most likely be the least of his problems.

Suddenly Ice-Man began to hear what seemed to be feedback on a microphone. The sound went right through him and he held his ears in agony. But eventually the screech subsided and he began to hear a voice. It was a male voice with what seemed to be uncontrollable joy and laughter.

"Is this thing on?" asked the voice. "Testing, testing one, two, three this is your captain speaking." The voice paused for a moment. "Now where was I? Welcome young Ice-Man to the best kept secret theme park in all the world. The park is free to enter but I assure you that you will never leave. Except maybe in a wood coffin." The voice began to laugh. "Oh I crack myself up sometimes. You my friend are in Murderworld, my own personal death trap with one hundred per cent success rate. Maybe ninety nine if you include Spider-Man but other than its perfect."

By now Ice-Man was looking all around trying to see where the voice was coming from. But it was obvious that whoever was talking was not present in the room. He continued to freeze the walls, but the heat behind them would quickly melt the ice. It seemed his situation was hopeless.

"And tonight I will be your host Arcade," said the Voice. "I am lord and master of all you survey. With just the push of a button I could end your MISERABLE existence. But I like to play with my prey before going in for the kill. Now let me ask you one question? Have you ever watched Raiders of the Lost Ark? Oh how I love that movie. If the answer is yes then you may find the next couple of seconds very familiar."

Suddenly Ice-Man began to hear something coming closer. At first he could not see anything coming but eventually he began to recognise what he could hear. It sounded like something was rolling and it didn't sound small. When he looked behind himself he saw an enormous red pinball more than nine feet in diameter.

The first thing that Ice-Man attempted to do was to freeze the pinball in place but the surrounding heat made his ice blasts into minor water jets. It didn't slow the pinball down at all. If anything the ball seemed to be picking up speed as it got closer to him.

"Oh crap!" stuttered Ice-Man.

With that Ice-Man began to run for his life. He figured that by running to one side the pinball would miss him and hit one of the walls. But when he ran to his left side the pinball changed course and continued to follow him.

"What the hell?"

Meanwhile it was the turn of Jean Grey to regain her consciousness. But instead of being in familiar surroundings she found herself in what seemed to be a coliseum like arena. There was a stone seating area all around the arena even though there were no spectators. The arena had a very high ceiling and a perfectly square hole in the middle. It was just large enough for one person to fit through.

Jean quickly got back to her feet but then she heard the same feedback that Ice-Man had heard earlier. Her head was still ringing and the noise wasn't making her feel any better. She could not focus in using her powers.

"Up and running are you my sleeping beauty," said Arcade. "Sorry about the travel arrangements but I seriously doubt that you would have come here if I invited. I've heard how you like all that Greek and Roman crap so I've decided to put you somewhere that's to your tastes. But I wouldn't get too comfortable if I was you."

Suddenly Jean heard what seemed to be a lift rising. She looked towards the centre of the arena and saw a tall woman with white hair and wearing a black one piece outfight and fur like extensions on her shoes rising. But the most striking thing about her was that she had six arms and each was carrying and different weapon. These included a sword, an axe, a baton, throwing stars, a dagger and a pair of nun chucks.

"Ladies and gentlemen may I introduce to you," said Arcade. "The most dangerous woman in the world. Don't let the face fool you she's a stone cold killer. I give to you the one and only six armed wonder Spiral."

There was a recording of a crowd applauding but they quickly fell silent as Spiral slowly began to step forward. It was amazing to see that even though she had multiple arms she still had the co-ordination to spin the sword, nun chucks and axe. Never did they hit any of her other arms.

Jean wanted to use her powers but her head was still ringing from the effects of the knock out gas earlier. She could not focus to use her powers and she was still a little uneasy on her feet. It seemed that she would be easy pickings for Spiral.

She tried to remember her training. Each of the X-Men had gone through training on how they would defend themselves if they did not have the use of their powers. Wolverine had taught her basic hand to hand combat, but it would be difficult to face someone like Spiral one on one.

"Another day another dollar," said Spiral. "At least be some kind of challenge. I hate it when Arcade gives me people who can't fight back."

Spiral then tried to slash Jean with the sword but she was able to jump out of the way in the last possible second. She tried to use her telekinetic powers to push Spiral back but she was only about push her back a couple of feet. It didn't stop Spiral, if anything it seemed to make her more excited.

"Looks like there's some fight in you after all," said Spiral. "You won't be a pointless kill in the end."

"You're not killing anyone today," snapped Jean.

With what little telekinesis she could use she was able to force the sword out of Spiral's upper left hand. It fell to the ground just feet away from Jean. Without hesitation she grabbed the sword and held it in front of herself. However Spiral did not feel threatened at all, all she did was laugh at her.

"You really think you can use that?" asked Spiral. "You might as well be waving a stick at me."

"You'd be surprised," replied Jean. "I've been picking up some of training. My powers may be dulled but I've still had enough to see your training through your memories. I might not be a master swordsman but I know enough to take you down."

Both women lunged forward to attack but some distance away in another large room the young X-Man Kitty Pryde was waking up. Like Jean before she was groggy from the knock out gas but it didn't seem to affect her as much. But now she was in unfamiliar terrain and she was struggling to remember anything for the last few hours. But as she became more aware things began to flood back.

Kitty cautiously walked towards a nearby and tried to phase through it. But when she attempted to she discovered that she couldn't. She tried several times but each time she failed. She looked at herself to see if she was accidentally using her other powers, but when she saw that her clothes still fit she realised that this wasn't the case.

"What's the matter Kitty cat?" asked Arcade. "Those walls that you're trying to phase through are made out of vibrating metal which. For those of you who haven't done their homework that means that you can't go through them. Oh it's such a shame isn't it but don't worry, you won't be alone for long." Suddenly part of the wall across the room opened and an extremely tall man with huge muscles, brown outfit with brown rings on his arms and brown fingerless glove like material covering his knuckles. He also had a very large brown helmet which completely hid his facial features save his eyes and mouth. "Let me introduce you to an old friend of yours. Normally this guy would cost a small fortune to hire but when he heard that the X-Men were involved he wanted in so badly that he practically paid me. I give to you the Unstoppable Juggernaut!"

The Juggernaut had fought the X-Men several times over the years and each time it had taken all their might to stop him in his tracks. Juggernaut was Professor Xavier's step brother but he had long hated his sibling. Juggernaut's upbringing had not been as pleasant Xavier's and he hated his brother for it. In fact his first attack on the X-Men he came very close to actually killing Professor X, if his students had not pulled out all the stops Juggernaut would have succeed.

But unlike Professor Xavier Juggernaut was not a mutant. His mighty strength came from an ancient artefact called the Gem of Cyttorak which he had discovered some years before while working with an archaeological team in South America. With the power of the gem his strength rivalled that of the Incredible Hulk. However he had never been in battle with Kitty Pryde or even seen her in action.

"I WAS HOPING FOR ONE OF THE BIG TIME X-MEN!" said Juggernaut but his mere speech was almost like he was shouting. "BUT YOU WILL DO!" He began to step forward. "BETTER GET SCARED WOMAN!"

Kitty tried to run but there was nowhere to run. Everywhere she looked there was a wall and the entrance had already closed itself. All the walls were coated in the vibrating metal so she could not phase through it. But if she was anything she was resourceful. If she couldn't get through the walls she knew that the Juggernaut would. She carefully backed herself to one of the walls and looked towards the Juggernaut.

"Someone help me," cried Kitty.

She tried to sound very convincing in her attempts to fool the brute. To her delight she saw the Juggernaut ran towards her at full pace. She stood her ground and tried to look terrified. But when he was close enough Kitty concentrated in making herself intangible. Much to his surprise Juggernaut ran straight through her and smashing the wall. His brute strength meant that the wall fell like cardboard.

Juggernaut couldn't stop himself immediately and he ran for several more feet before he could finally stop himself. Kitty ran through the large gap in the wall and noticed that the floor was now concrete rather that the vibrating metal. She saw Juggernaut turn around but all she did was smile and wave.

"Bye Juggernaut," she laughed. "Thanks for the help."

Juggernaut once again ran towards her but Kitty phased through the floor and out of sight. Much to his annoyance the X-Man had escaped. He raised his fists in the air and slammed them to the ground in rage.

"GOD DAMN IT!" he shouted.

Elsewhere a man with red hair and wearing a white suit with a polka dot bow tie. In front of him were several television monitors which he could watch what was happening in his murderous theme park. This man was Arcade the man responsible for putting these X-Men in such turmoil. However what he had just seen with the Juggernaut had made him somewhat upset.

Behind him a woman with long black hair and red costume with a white belt. She put her hand on Arcade's shoulder and this somewhat calmed him down. But he didn't like it when things were being broken that practically had his name on it.

"God damn it one of them escaped!" shouted Arcade. He slammed his fist onto the side of the monitors. "Miss Locke have her recaptured and then killed in the most entertaining of matters." He turned around to her on his chair. "I can't risk her leaving the park. My reputation will be in shatters."

"I understand Arcade," replied Miss Locke.

"Do you know how long it took me to get a client after Spider-Man escaped? Don't answer that it's a rhetorical question." He turned around to the monitors again and saw the one that had Wolverine lying on the ground. His wounds had mostly healed but there were still a couple of bullet holes that were still open. "And Wolverine is still not awake. Killing him is no fun if he keeps sleeping."

"He's still recovering from his encounter with Deadpool."

"I knew that whack job would kill him before he got to Murderworld. Damn it I missed all the fun."

"I believe he's still alive Arcade. And wasn't it you who hired Deadpool?"

"Yes, yes but the only way to kill someone with healing powers is someone else with healing powers. And besides he was in the phone book." He then sees Wolverine begin to move his arms. "Oh good he's coming to. Now the fun begins."

He then pressed a button on a nearby keyboard and a huge grin appeared on his face. He rubbed his hands in glee and Miss Locke walked away. Her task had been set for her and she wanted to accomplish it with maximum efficiency.

In his room Wolverine was finally coming to. He could feel the bullets still in his chest and with one of his adamantium claws to cut each one of them out. Each one caused him great pain but they were better taken out rather than being left in. But soon his pain was turning into frustration. He remembered what happened to him and about Deadpool. In his mind Deadpool would be a dead man if he ever crossed Wolverine's path again.

The room Wolverine was in looked much like the inside of a Big Top circus. The walls had bright red and yellow strips and there was a small wooden seating area intended for circus goers. There was also blood stains on the walls and using his animal keen senses he could smell that some of it was only days old.

Suddenly a door opened in one of the walls and several clowns came through. Wolverine extended all of his claws and waited to see what was going to happen. But all the clowns were doing was running around and laughing much to his annoyance. One even walked up to him and sprayed a clear liquid in his face through a flower on his chest. It wasn't water however but highly corrosive acid. The acid burned the skin off his face and was going down to his flesh. The pain was excruciating but Wolverine still had sense enough to slice the clown's head off. The clown however was not human but a mechanical being. It whined a little before falling down.

The acid had burned Wolverine's eyes and it would take a while for his healing powers to kick in. He may not have had his eyes but his sense of smell and hearing will still one hundred per cent. He leaped into the air and began to slash at the clowns around him. Most of the clowns by now had lost their hands revealing a large array of weapons like guns and blades. But they were child's play to someone like Wolverine. It only took him seconds to hack, slash and dice his way through them. When he was done all the robots were laying on the ground in a million pieces.

His fight was far from over. Even though he had destroyed all of the clowns he heard and smelled something familiar. Practically out of thin air Deadpool appeared behind him. He was not ready to fight just yet. He was preparing to rub salt into Wolverine's wounds. Deadpool got a hand full of salt from one of his many pouch like pockets and waited until Wolverine turned around. When he did he threw the salt directly into Wolverine's face. Once again this caused the X-Man great pain.

"Oh my God Logan that must be sooooo pain," laughed Deadpool. "Don't worry my grumpy little friend your face will be the least of your problems." He then drew out two swords from their holders and went to slash Wolverine. However he heard it coming and raised his claws to block the shot. "So there's still some fight left in you. Now that's the Wolverine I know and absolutely hate."

The skin on Wolverine's face was beginning to grow back. But right now his main concern was taking care of Deadpool. Normally if he was with the X-Men he would try not to kill his enemy but for Deadpool he was more than happy to make an exception. The two had gone way back although Deadpool had changed from the man Wolverine had once known. The man that seemed to be Wade Wilson was all but gone. Now all that was left of him was an insane psychopath with a sick sense of humour. The tale of these two individuals went back much further than most people realised. These men met each other some years ago shortly after Wolverine had acquired his adamantium skeleton.

They had been members of an elite commando team funded jointly by the US and Canadian governments. They had performed undercover missions in Vietnam and Cambodia during the war, although their efforts did little to change the outcome. Even back then Wade never seemed to stop talking. Many of the other team members would be greatly annoyed he seemed to have great delight in it. Wade was also merciless with anyone who could potentially become prisoners. Instead of taking them captive he would decapitate them instead. Since the team's missions were off the radar there were never any court martials or federal trials. If anything Wade love to kill for the pure and simple fact that it made him feel good.

But after being diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer it seemed Wade's killing days were over but he was offered a chance for a cure. A project attempting to recreate Wolverine's healing powers would save his life. Wade was not slow to accept the procedure but it came at a terrible cost. Even though his cancer was cured his body was heavily scarred and deformed. When he first saw his reflection in the mirror Wade smashed it and used its shards to kill everyone involved in the project.

After the killing had finished all he did was laugh, and laugh, and laugh, and laugh. After that he fell under the radar before resurfacing as a freelance mercenary. He advertised himself as being ten times more effective than Bullseye but nine times the cost. Anyone who tried to back out of a contract would find themselves on the wrong side of one of Deadpool's swords. So far he had a one hundred percent success rate.

However Wolverine would be his biggest challenge yet. His healing factor and Adamantium skeleton was going to difficult for the Merc With A Mouth but not impossible. Right now he had Wolverine right where he wanted. Without hesitation he stabbed Wolverine with one of his two samurai like sword. He then took out one of his guns and began to shoot him repeatedly in the face. Like usual Deadpool would shout BANG every time he took a shot.

When the firing had finished Wolverine's face was riddled with bullets. Part of the flesh around his left cheek had been shot off leaving the metal skeleton underneath. But despite all this the X-Man was still alive. It would take more than this to fall the mighty Wolverine.

By stabbing Wolverine with his sword Deadpool was now within his reach. Almost like second nature Wolverine drove three of his claws into the stomach of Deadpool. To a normal man this would have been fatal but thanks to his healing powers Deadpool would survive the horrific injury.

"Oh no you got me," said Deadpool staggering back. "Is this the end for our beloved Deadpool?" He looked down and saw his stab wounds were healing over. "Oh hell no. I never run out of gas!"

Wolverine pulled out the sword from his body and threw it to one side. His sight had greatly deteriorated but this didn't stop him from lunging at his former colleague. However with a push of a button on his belt Deadpool seemingly disappeared only to reappear behind Wolverine.

"What the hell?" asked Wolverine.

"Useful isn't it?" replied Deadpool. "I picked this bad baby up on a trip to Tahiti, or was it Morocco? I can't remember, it's all a haze to me." He laughed again. "Not hold still and die like a good dog."

Once again Wolverine tried to slice Deadpool but he just teleported to another part of the room. Deadpool seemed to be amused watching Wolverine's futile attempts. This was also beginning to annoy Wolverine.

Although it seemed that Wolverine was going nowhere he was coming up with a plan however. The vast majority of the time Deadpool was teleporting behind him. He went to slash Deadpool and like his other attempts Deadpool simple teleported away. But Wolverine swiftly turned around and slashed where Deadpool was reappearing. His claws went right through his stomach and down through the device on his belt. It stood little chance against Wolverine's claws and was destroyed in an instant.

"I should have seen that coming," said Deadpool.

Blinded with rage Wolverine sliced through Deadpool's limbs severing from the rest of his body. In the blink of an eye Deadpool had lost all four of his limbs and lay on the floor in a pool of blood. But he was still alive. He looked at the stumps where his arms and legs had been.

"It's over bub," said Wolverine.

"Shall we call it a draw?" replied Deadpool.

Wolverine then drove his claws right into the eyes of Deadpool and into his brain. After that Deadpool lay motionless as Wolverine's wounds continued to heal. He had survived the encounter but his ordeal was not over yet.

In his control room Arcade was less than impressed with what he was seeing. Wolverine was slashing through one of the walls to make his escape. Arcade was pressing several buttons but nothing seemed to be working for him. All his clown robots had been destroyed in their first encounter with Wolverine.

"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!" shouted Arcade. "This can't be happening!" there was much panic in his voice and he was frantically looking at his screens. Although Ice-Man and Jean Grey were still contained now that two of the X-Men were free things seemed to look dire. "God damn why is everyone I hire so useless?" Miss Locke was standing right behind him and she cleared her throat. He then turned his chair and tried to smile at her. "Except you of course baby."

"Darn tootin," replied Miss Locke.

"What am I gonna do? They're gonna kill me for sure." The smile had faded away. "I am actually gonna get murdered in Murderworld."

"Maybe it's time to go to Plan B."

"Plan B but that might be a little extreme." He then began to think about it a little. "Actually it might be extreme enough." He then looked around and gave a sigh. "I really thought I wouldn't need Tobias. But I guess desperate times call for desperate measures my dear. Now all I need to do is wait."

Meanwhile Kitty was running around what seemed to be endless corridors. No matter where she went she seemed to be ending up in the same place. This was beginning to annoy her and her anger caused her to grow a couple of inches. The sensation was still somewhat alien to her but as soon as it started she realised what was happening and tried to keep her emotions in check.

"Ok keep it together Kitty," she said to herself. "The last thing you need is to grow out of another set of clothes."

During her Danger Room sessions Wolverine had taught her a breathing technique which helped any anger issues. She began to breathe like she had been taught and her anger seemed to subside and she slowly shrank back down to normal.

It didn't change the fact that she was still lost and to make matters worse Juggernaut could be just behind her and she knew that she didn't stand a chance against him. He was amongst a few people to go toe to toe with the Incredible Hulk and actually walk away. His hatred for the X-Men was no secret and he would go to extreme lengths to wipe their very existence off the face of the world.

Suddenly she began to hear someone coming. This caught her completely by surprise and she turned to where the sound was coming from. She expected it to be someone who meant her harm but instead she saw Ice-Man. He seemed to be staggering a little but the sense of relief almost overwhelmed her and she immediately flung forward and gave him the biggest hug she had ever given to anyone.

"Oh Bobby you won't believe how happy I am to see you," said Kitty with tears in her eyes. It still seemed odd to her that she was now taller than he was. But there was one other thing that was odd. Although he was completely frozen over his body didn't feel very cold. She broke off the hug. "Bobby are you alright."

Suddenly Ice-Man's left hand transformed into a cannon and he aimed it at her. A small smile appeared as she took several steps back. There was a sense of fear in her face as she realised what was happening.

"Never better," replied the Imposter.

He then began to fire at her and originally she tried to phase through them. But bullets weren't being fired but a strange energy weapon. She couldn't phase through them and this caused her great pain. Though the blasts weren't fatal but they were causing damage. All she could do was try and dodge the blasts.

Unfortunately one blast hit her in the leg and she went down. Her leg had gone numb and she couldn't move it. The imposter began to slowly walk towards her, he still had a large smile on his face and it seemed that Kitty's number was up. The imposter moved very strangely as well. Each move was swift and efficient with no loss of energy. It was as if he were a machine.

"Any last word X-Man?" asked the Imposter.

"Actually I have three," replied Kitty. Suddenly three metal claws stabbed the Imposter through the back. There was a burst of energy come through the mouth of the Imposter and he fell down. Her saviour was none other than Wolverine. "Three metal claws that is." Even though she was happy to see him she was still reluctant to trust him. "How do I know you're really Wolverine?"

"You puked on your first ride on the X-Jet," replied Wolverine.

"Ok it's you."

Wolverine walked over the robotic body of the Ice-Man imposter and towards his fallen ally. He tried to help her up but Kitty's leg was still numb and couldn't support much weight at the time being.

"You alright kid?" asked Wolverine.

"I've been better," replied Kitty. "Where are we?"

"Nowhere good. Whoever did this has a worse sense of humour than the Popsicle. What are you doing here anyway?"

"Jean and I were doing some clothes shopping and the last thing I remember was going into a cab and then everything went black. I woke up in some kind of room and Juggernaut was there…

"Wait a minute Kitty." He had to stop her suddenly. "Juggernaut's here?"

"Yeah but I ran away from him." She then began to smile a little. "He may be super strong but he's not big on brains."

Just then they began to feel the ground rumble. It wasn't likely to be an earthquake but as the seconds wen by it became more and more violent. Wolverine struggled to keep Kitty on her feet. She thought that it was the Juggernaut coming their way but the only problem was that the quakes were continuous and didn't feel like footsteps.

Suddenly both X-Men began to hear a familiar voice. At first it was quiet but it began to get louder and louder. As the voice grew louder the earthquake was becoming more violent. It seemed to be coming from just the right of them. Suddenly a huge boulder broke through the nearby wall and rolled directly towards the two X-Men.

Without hesitation Kitty held onto Wolverine and phased them both through the boulder as it approached them. Its momentum didn't stop the boulder and it continued to roll through another wall behind them. For now it seemed that the immediate danger had wasted away. Wolverine panted after expecting to be flattened but instead he had Kitty to thank for saving him from incredible pain.

Now there was a hole in the wall in front of them and they saw a familiar face poking through it. To Kitty's delight it was Ice-Man although he was somewhat battered and bruised. However she hesitated for a moment, she didn't know whether he was the real thing or another machine. Wolverine knew for sure, a couple of twitches with his nose and he picked up the scent. This Ice-Man had the right scent and Wolverine knew that this was indeed his lost teammate.

Ice-Man began to walk towards them and he had a very large smile on his face. He had a slight limp when he walked but he didn't seem to notice at all. All he could think about was getting to his teammates. Although he noticed that Kitty's expression changed from excitement to mistrust.

"Guys, oh thank God you're here," said Ice-Man with fatigue in his voice.

"Wait right there!" commanded Kitty. This caused Ice-Man to stop dead in his tracks. "How do I know you're the real Bobby?"

"Calm down Kitty," replied Wolverine. "It's him, I'd recognise that cold damp smell anywhere."

Kitty went to move further forward but she almost collapsed due to her leg. Although the numbness was beginning to subside she still couldn't put too much weight on it. Wolverine was able to help her catch her bearing. Ice-Man however was very concerned for her health and rushed towards her. He helped Wolverine by holding Kitty up by her other arm. She could feel the coldness of his body and she knew for sure that it was truly him. She looked towards him and gave him a small smile.

"You're not a robot," said Kitty.

"No why would I be?" replied Ice-Man.

"Let's just say that I'm glad you're here."

"You guys haven't seen Arcade have you?"

"Who the hell's Arcade?" grunted Wolverine.

"He's the guy running this theme park from hell. Well that's what he calls himself anyway. If that's actually the name his parents gave him I can see why this guy's so loopy."

Wolverine was beginning to sniff the air once again. This time he was trying to pick up the scent of anyone around in the immediate area. He was expecting to smell all of his fellow X-Men but he only picked up a couple he recognised. One of them was the Juggernaut but he seemed to be some distance away. Much more to his delight the other was that of Jean Grey. It also seemed that she was much closer than he had expected. He turned his head around and looked towards where the scent was coming from.

"I can smell Jean," grunted Wolverine. He then sniffed again. "And someone else I've never smelled before." He could tell that the scent was female and that there seemed to be a fight. He could smell sweat as well.

The three X-Men slowly made their way to where Wolverine could smell Jean. The progress was slower than they liked since Wolverine and Ice-Man had to basically carry Kitty. Due to her recent growth spurt she was heavier than she had been before, although Wolverine didn't have much problem Ice-Man on the other hand was struggling more with the extra weight. He had to admit that he needed to work out more.

"Yo Kitty you need to lay off the fine dining," said Ice-Man.

"Are you trying to say I'm fat?" replied Kitty.

"Err…" He knew that he had to be careful with his words. He knew that Kitty especially had been a little subconscious about her new size. "No comment."

As they continued to move Kitty's leg improved and eventually she was able to walk under her own power. Although she wasn't as spry as she had been at least she didn't need the others supporting her. The one thing she hated more than her growth spurt was the feeling that she was a liability to the others.

Eventually they came up to another wall made out of metal. It wasn't the same material that was in the room where Juggernaut had struck. It seemed to be made out of steel much to the relief of the group. Although it was still very strong Wolverine would be able to slice through it or Kitty phase them through. Wolverine approached it cautiously and put his ear to the wall. He began to hear what was happening inside.

"She's in here," said Wolverine. He then extended his metal claws. "I'll get us in there in a minute."

"Don't worry," replied Kitty stepping forward. "Let me." She then put one hand on Wolverine's shoulder and the other on Ice-Man's. "Just try to relax."

She concentrated and then began to step forward. The other X-Men walked with her and the stepped through the wall. Compared to the feat she pulled in Steele during the hostage crisis this was a walk in the park. If she had increased her size at all phasing would have been impossible. But after a few moments they reached the other side of the wall without incident.

They were surprised to see Jean Grey holding an axe. By her feet was the unconscious body of Spiral. There was a blow to her head but it didn't seem to be fatal. Jean on the other hand had a bloody lip but other than that she looked to be unharmed. It almost caught her by surprise that her teammates had arrived.

"Jean," said Wolverine. There was some comfort in his voice. It was no secret that he had feelings for her but with Cyclops in the picture he dared not make a move for her. Once they had a big fight when Wolverine first joined the X-Men. If it had not been for a particularly strong Russian X-Man the team would have been down a member.

"What happened here?" asked Kitty.

"Let's just say that she underestimated me," answered Jean. She then dropped the axe on the ground. "Much to her expense."

Suddenly the group heard what seemed to be a jingling sound coming from all around her. It was like in a supermarket just before an announcement was made. After the jingling noise subsided there was no sound at first. Eventually they heard what seemed to be long and chilling breaths.

"You X-Men have to ruin everything!" shouted Arcade over the speaker system. His voice tone had changed from when he first went on the system. Previously his voice had been cheerful and full of fun, now however it was at a lower and pitch and full of dread. "Why can't you just die like you're supposed to? Is that really too much to ask?" There was a loud thud as if he had hit something. "You think you've won but I've got one more plan up my sleep." Then he coughed a little into the microphone. "Time for you to go to the big house."

Suddenly the floor underneath the X-Men opened up and they began to fall. The gap was so large that even Spiral's unconscious body dropped with them as well. This had caught them all completely by surprise they didn't have sufficient time to react properly, they fell into darkness but instead of hitting the ground they fell onto what seemed to be a giant slide. Due to the low light they couldn't see anything but they soon realised that the slide was like that of a helter-skelter. Instead of going down in one slope they seemed to be going down in circles.

Wolverine extended his claws and tried to stop his fall. But almost as soon as they had extended a wall in front of them opened up and they finally hit the floor. The entire experience had only last for a few seconds but to them it had lasted a whole deal longer.

"Is everyone alight?" asked Jean as she slowly got up.

"Nothing broken here," replied Ice-Man. "Except maybe my pride." He then staggered up to his feet. "And my sense of humour."

"Can it popsicle," snapped Wolverine.

"Oh…my…God," said Kitty in a frightened voice.

This room was very different to the other rooms they had been to. Although it was very bright the room itself was enormous. The ceiling looked to be three hundred feet above them and over five hundred feet from one end to the other. But the most striking part was that it looked like a kitchen except scaled up to giant size.

The room had all the normal things you'd expect to see in a kitchen, a table, chairs, a fridge, oven, sink, washer along with other things. They all looked enormous however, the table alone was over one hundred and fifty feet high. The wall that had opened for the X-Men looked like a giant mouse house. Almost immediately the door itself closed behind them.

"What is this place?" asked Ice-Man. He was in awe with what he was seeing. He never felt this small in his entire life.

"I'm guessing this is the Big House," replied Jean. She took a couple of steps forward but she too was in awe. "This is amazing, the time and resources to make a place like this must be huge."

"This is the second time I've felt like Alice In Wonderland," said Kitty. "But this time the scales are reversed."

Suddenly they felt another rumbling noise. Next to the X-Men was a giant cat bowl with water inside it. It rumbled each time the ground shock. But this time it was definitely footsteps.

In a matter of moments a huge creature came towards them. It looked to be hairy and had whiskers. It took them a couple of seconds for the X-Men to realise that they were seeing what seemed to be a giant cat. It looked incredible life like and even panted like it was a real cat. It had brown fur with white feet and yellow eyes. It looked to be around fifty feet tall when standing up straight.

"Great another robot," said Kitty. She didn't seem to be as worried as she did last time. This time she wouldn't be fooled. She knew that robots no matter how big were weak against her phasing powers. "Let me deal with it."

"Kitty don't!" shouted Wolverine.

But it was too late, she had already started to run towards it. The cat meowed very loudly and practically opened to swallow her. She just ran right into its mouth and phased right through it. But as she went through it she saw that instead of metal and electrical wiring she could see flesh and bone. As soon as she came out the other side she finally realised what Wolverine had known.

"It's a real cat?" she said as if a harsh truth had been laid on.

"Yes my dear!" shouted Arcade over the speaker system. There was some delight in his voice. "X-Men I'd like you to meet Tobias, it's amazing what you can do with Pym Particles off the black market. He hasn't eaten in three days and he'll practically eat anything that moves." He then began to laugh. "And in this case it's you."

Pym Particles was a chemical compound invented by Doctor Hank Pym better known as Ant-Man/Giant-Man of the Avengers. There were two variations of the compound, one made things grow and the other one shrank things. It was the source of Ant-Man/Giant-Man and fellow Avenger Wasp/Giant-Woman's powers.

Wolverine had already known the cat was real. His animal keen senses had helped him once again to tell the difference between a machine and an organic being. He also knew that it wasn't the X-Men who had been shrunk but this cat was indeed a giant. He had been shrunk once with Pym Particles in the past and knew the feeling. This time however he had no strange sensations.

Tobias tried to slash Kitty who was by his left paw but she phased through it at the last moment. She backed away towards her fellow team mates. Tobias then shouted a roar which sounded much like a lion's. Even Wolverine had to admit that he was feeling a little intimidated.

"Anyone got any bright ideas?" asked Ice-Man.

"Just one," replied Wolverine. "RUN!"

The X-Men began to scatter in different directions. To Tobias all the X-Men were, were mice and he was a very large very hungry cat. But by scattering the X-Men had ensured that only one of them would have Tobias's attention. The others could try and formulate a plan of action. Unfortunately it Ice-Man who drawn the short straw and he seemed to have Tobias chasing after him. He ran towards and began to fire ice shards at him. Unfortunately he was firing them too hastily and didn't have time to form one that would do any real damage.

The other X-Men gathered on the opposite side of the room next to the giant fridge. They could see that Ice-Man was in trouble but for the moment they couldn't help him. Even Wolverine would struggle to fight a creature of that size. He had fought giant monsters, people, plants and even a giant ant. But this was the first time he would have to combat a giant cat.

"Hey guys a little help over here!" shouted Ice-Man. He was running faster than he had ever ran before. Tobias however was still catching up to him. He could feel the warm breath of the huge cat just behind him. When it came to the game of cat and mouse he always thought that the mouse would win. But now the grim reality was that it was the opposite way around. "I really don't want to be cat chow!"

"Kitty can't you grow and stop that thing?" asked Wolverine pointing towards Tobias. He had not seen her Danger Room sessions where she had practiced her secondary powers. He didn't know if they would be any help.

"I can't," replied Kitty with distress in her voice. "When I've practiced I could only grow an extra foot and these clothes don't grow with me."

"Damn it!"

Suddenly Wolverine could smell something that again was somewhat familiar. This time it wasn't a person he could smell but something else entirely. He moved towards a wall leaving the two women where they were standing.

"Logan where are you going?" asked Jean. She could see that he was doing something but she didn't know what it was. She didn't have his sense of smell so she couldn't know what he was tracking. She then glanced back towards Ice-Man and saw he had frozen one of Tobias's paws to the ground. At first it seemed to do the trick but Tobias was able to break his paw out of the ice and continue his pursuit.

Eventually Wolverine came up to a wall. He tapped it his fist and he could hear that it was hollow. He extended his claws and slashed through it. The section of the wall turned out to be a door and in seconds the mutant had shredded it into several pieces.

The room inside was small like a closet or a utility room. Wolverine discovered the item he was looking for on a shelf next to a control panel. There were several other items inside the room including jumpsuits, prods and other possible useful items. He picked up the canister and saw that it was labelled 'In case of emergencies'. By now the women had ran to where he was and also saw the canister. The room itself seemed to be for the people who cleaned up the mess after one of Tobias's victims.

"What is that?" asked Kitty.

"Pym Particles," replied Wolverine. He then shook it gently to see how full the canister was. It was almost full. "And a lot of them."

"But which one's?"

"I don't know, they both smell the same." He then sighed. "There's only one way to find out, this thing will either save us, or doom us."

Moments later Ice-Man had ran himself into a corner. He tried to make an ice shield to protect himself from the giant hungry feline. But he didn't have enough time to make it thick enough to hold. It did however buy him time while Tobias was trying to break through it. He didn't know if this would be his last day on Earth but if it was he was going to go down kicking and screaming.

"Come on pussy!" he shouted. Just then he felt a familiar itch in his head. It was the feeling he got whenever Jean was trying to contact him. He used his hands to continually build the ice wall and his mind to listen to Jean. "You better have a plan Jean I can't keep this up for too long."

"We do Bobby," replied Jean through telepathy. "When I tell you to fire, fire an ice shard at the canister."

"Canister? What canister?"

"You'll know it when you see it. But when you hit it make sure you're far away from the fallout."

While Tobias was trying to break through the ice he felt a sharp pain in one of his back paws. He turned around instantly and saw Wolverine and Kitty standing in front of him. Wolverine's claws were extended and there was a small amount of blood on the three on his left arm. Tobias tried to slash the two X-Men but Kitty's powers saved them from any harm. But all it seemed to be accomplishing was making the giant cat angry. It was determined to eat the X-Men.

Unseen to Tobias Jean was using her telekinesis to hover the canister just above him. However from where Ice-Man was he could not see the canister at all. He was moving around the side of the ice wall he had created and Tobias's huge body was blocking his view. He was just thankful that he was focusing on Wolverine and Kitty rather than himself.

"Fire Bobby!" shouted Jean through telepathy.

"I can't see it," replied Ice-Man. He was trying to move to a better position but Tobias's tail was causing problems. Hs anger at the X-Men made him move it frantically from side to side. If Ice-Man made one wrong move the tail would practically flatten him. "Get him further away from me."

"Logan, Kitty." This time instead of talking to Ice-Man Jean shifted her telepathy towards her two following teammates. "Bobby's having problems, you need to Tobias away from him. But make sure you can keep him in one place, we've only got one shot at this."

As soon as Jean broke off the connection Wolverine and Kitty backed away and as planned Tobias began to follow. It was still unnerving for all involved just exactly what was happening. When each of them woke up that morning, none of them would think that they would be fighting a giant cat. On the other hand many other bizarre things had occurred since the X-Men had first formed. This event wasn't even in the top five weird things that the X-Men had dealt with.

As Tobias moved away Jean continued to keep the canister above him. But now that he had moved away Ice-Man could see the canister in question. It was a relatively small target but if he threw enough shards at the canister he would eventually hit home. Wolverine and Kitty were also doing their best to keep Tobias distracted long enough for their plan to work. With Wolverine slashing and Kitty using her phasing powers to protect them from harm it seemed that they were practically invincible.

Due to the excitement and stress of what was happening Kitty accidentally grew an inch and this seemed to cancel out her phasing abilities. By the time she realised Tobias's giant paw hat knocked both of them to one side. She was horrified when she realised what had happened but she had another problem. With Tobias on the scene she couldn't concentrate on shrinking, that meant she couldn't use her phasing powers while her secondary powers were activated.

When all hope seemed lost one of Ice-Man's ice shard hit its target and there was an explosion of Pym Particle that scattered all over the giant cat. Ice-Man and Jean were too far away to have to worry about the fallout. But Wolverine and Kitty were in a small amount of danger. There was a possibility that they too could be infected with the Pym Particles. Thankfully in this situation Tobias was so big that the Pym Particles all fell onto him leaving the X-Men safe. If he had not struck them when he did they could have been covered with Pym Particles as well.

Now was the moment of truth as the X-Men waited to see whether the giant cat would in deed shrink or grow even bigger and become a menace that they would have great difficulty dealing with. As the seconds went by nothing seemed to happen and they feared that all their efforts had been for naught.

Suddenly they noticed that Tobias was beginning to get smaller and smaller. Ice-Man gave out a cheer of joy as they watched the giant continue to shrink. Tobias himself could only cry in confusion as the world around him grew. As he went down the X-Men began to walk closer to him as the once colossal threat seemed to dissolve before their eyes. Now it had seemed the tables had turned.

He eventually reached the size of a normal cat but he continued to shrink smaller and smaller and smaller. Jean exclaimed in astonishment as she watched him shrink. Mere moments later the shrinking stopped although by now he was smaller than a mouse. He now looked up at the now colossal X-Men. Kitty knelt down and gently picked up the tiny creature. He tried look as threatening as he could but now he was too small to even do that now.

"Oh look how cute he is," said Kitty in a high pitch cute voice. She then began to stroke him with her finger.

"Get rid of that thing!" snapped Wolverine. "A minute ago it was trying to kill us. Now you want to stroke it?"

"He's harmless now Logan." She then smiled at the tiny cat. "I think I might keep him. I always wanted my own little pet." She then placed Tobias in a pocket on her dress. He popped his head out of it and she stroked it once again. "So cute."

Meanwhile in the control room Arcade had seen the X-Men shrink Tobias and was far from pleased about this. His mug of coffee had been thrown and smashed on a wall and he was beginning to pull out his own red hair. Miss Locke had tried to calm him down but this was one of the few times that he didn't pay any attention to her. He was having a tantrum as if he was a toddle.

"THOSE STUPID X-MEN!" he cried at the top of his lungs. By now there were tears streaming from his eyes. He was on the verge of having a mental breakdown. "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TIME AND EFFORT I PUT INTO MURDERWORLD? AND NOW THEY'VE SURVIVED AND I WON'T GET PAID! WHY THE HELL DID I HAVE TO BUY THE SHRINKING PYM PARTICLES?"

"You need insurance in case Tobias was out of control," answered Miss Locke in a sweet voice. She was trying everything she could to try and calm Arcade down. Her efforts however seemed to be in vein.

"I'M GOING TO KILL THEM IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!" He then slammed his fist onto the counter by his security monitors. He then slowly stood up from where he was sitting and gave out a sigh. "Miss Locke it's time to go."

"Go where?"

"ANYWHERE BUT HERE!"

Down in the Big Room Jean was using her telepathy to scan the area. She picked up a couple of active minds but none that she recognised besides her teammates. She was scanning to see whether Professor X and the others were also in Murderworld but much to her relief she couldn't sense them. They still had one more problem to deal with, they needed to leave the Big House and then find a way to leave Murderworld for good.

While Jean had been scanning the area she also found that they were deep underground. That meant Kitty couldn't take the X-Men out of synch with the Earth like she had during the hostage crisis some weeks earlier. They would end up miles away but still over a thousand feet underground and it was unlikely that they would be able to reach topside before they ran out of oxygen. Their only choice was to find an exit.

The utility room that Wolverine had discovered had only one entrance and exit. There had to be an exit somewhere in the Big House since there had to be a way for Arcade and his associates to enter and exit. It was also likely that the exit would be close so that access to the utility room wasn't difficult.

Once again Wolverine began to sniff around trying to find a faint scent. Since it was likely that no one had been down here for a few days it would be difficult for him pick up. He blocked out the scents of his friends and the now shrunken Tobias. He did smell cheap aftershave although it was very faint. He moved slowly towards a wall only a few metres away from the utility room. He didn't tap the wall this time however, he just slashed his way through. His adamantium claws made short work of the wall and when he was done the team could see a metal staircase that had seen better days. They led up for several flights but it was unclear exactly where the end was.

Ice-Man seemed to be the most relieved to see the stairs since he had been running for most of day whether it was from a giant cat or a giant boulder. All he wanted to do was get out of this insane place and go back to relative normality. He'd much rather take on Magneto and all of his Acolytes than go through Murderworld all over again.

Wolverine was the first to make his way up the stairs. They creaked loudly when took his first step onto them. The sound rang around the staircase and then there was a low quiet straining sound. Jean was somewhat reluctant go up the stairs but the alternative was more daunting. If they remained behind it would only be a matter of time before Arcade would send something else their way. But the threat of traps was also constantly on the mind of the X-Men. In a place as unpredictable as Murderworld almost anything was possible. As far as they knew the stairs themselves could lead them to another giant room or one where the walls closed in.

As each of the X-Men made their way up the stairs it continued to creak and groan. They didn't want to have any more nasty surprises but that seemed to be beyond their power. It was very likely that they would have to face more danger before they were out of Murderworld. It was only a question of when, that was the most terrifying part of the whole experience, it was the unknowing.

There were several hundred steps that led up. Ice-Man was low on energy and finding the climb difficult. This time it was Kitty's turn to help support him, he was so weak that the ice covering his body had melted away leaving him in his civilian clothes. He had only been like this a few times in his life but unfortunately now was neither the time nor the place to start feeling weak.

"Don't worry Bobby I got ya," said Kitty. She took him under her arm and helped up each step. She was a little stronger than she had been before so she could carry the extra weight. "We're almost there."

"A-are we going to get of here?" replied Ice-Man weakly. He had to take a deep breath after every few words.

"Sure we are. And when we get back to the mansion we can go to the movies and then the arcade."

"P-please don't mention arcade." He then tried to give her a smile. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Well I wouldn't exactly call it a date. I'd call it more of a night out with a very good friend." She tried to smile to re-assure him.

"If that's not a date then I'm Australian," joked Wolverine. He then laughed and it caused the others to chuckle. The little joke was only a band aid to try and lift the spirits of the team. If they only focused on the negatives they would be doomed.

Eventually after several minutes and countless steps they reached what seemed to be a normal door. Jean attempted to open it but it seemed to be locked from the other side. This was problem for Wolverine who kicked the door down without any warning. Since it was made out of wood it stood little chance against the mighty mutant. It almost seemed like things were going too easy for them.

They found themselves in what seemed to be service corridors similar to the one they had been in before they entered the Big House. However they seemed to be signs to help instruct where all the faculties were. It was obvious this place was not for Arcade's victims but rather for the people who helped run Murderworld.

Just then out of one of the side corridors a man emerged reading a newspaper. He was wearing a jumpsuit similar to the ones that Wolverine had found in the Big House's utility room. He seemed to be going about his business but as soon as he saw the X-Men he realised that he was in trouble.

He dropped his paper and tried to run but he noticed that his feet were no longer touching the ground. He saw that he was now floating in the air and he couldn't move from his position. He even tried to swim as if he was in water but all his efforts were futile. His predicament was caused by Jean's telekinesis. Almost as soon as she had seen him she had used her powers to keep him in place. She also moved him towards them and he was constantly screaming in terror.

He was in so much shock that he passed out before he finally reached the X-Men. Jean had to use her telepathy to wake him up but the sight he saw was almost enough to give him a heart attack. Wolverine had once again extended his claws and put them close to the man's belly.

"Tell us where Arcade is!" demanded Wolverine. He put his claws a couple of inches closer to the man's stomach. "I'm not the kind of guy who likes to ask twice."

"Please don't," cried the Man. "I have a wife and kids."

"I'm not going to ask you again!" Once again he brought his claws even closer to the petrified man. His claws were actually touching the man's stomach and he could feel their sharpness. He was also breathing heavily on the man and this only fuelled his fear of the mutants. "WHERE THE *(^% IS ARCADE!"

"Wolverine stand down," demanded Jean. She then put her hand on his shoulder in an effort to calm him down. She had seen what happened if he lost control of the beast within. Although she disliked this man due to the fact he worked for Arcade but she also didn't want to see him killed.

Normally Wolverine would be reluctant to stand down, but since it was Jean who had told him he slow retracted his claws. He then brought his face closer to that of the terrified man. He then snarled at him before finally walking to one side. He had not liked the fact he had to stand down but he didn't want to do anything against Jean. He had hurt her once before and had no intentions on doing it again.

Jean stepped forwards and simple placed her hand on the man's forehead. He was still terrified with what was going on and unfortunately he lost control of his bladder and he began to urinate. His jump suit became wet around his crotch and a small pool of urine was appearing on the ground beneath him. Jean was using her telepathy to scan his mind. Normally she wouldn't read minds without their permission but under the circumstances she was willing to make an exception. She tried not to find any of his personal secrets but rather Arcade's location.

It only took moments to find what she was looking for. The man felt no pain but when the scan was finished Jean used her telepathy once more but this time to put him to sleep. She gently lowered him to the ground and tried not to place him in the urine pool. Now she had exactly what she wanted.

"I know where Arcade is," said Jean turning to her fellow X-Men. "I also know the way to the surface."

"Great let's get going," replied Ice-Man in the some relief in his voice. Although he was still weak the news had given him a small amount of adrenaline. "I just wanna get out of here, go to bed and play video games."

"Not yet. If we leave without dealing with Arcade then there's nothing stopping him from doing this to other people."

"Music to my ears Red," replied Wolverine cracking his knuckles. "I wouldn't mind having some one on one time with that guy."

Using the memories absorbed from the worker's mind she was able to guide them through the corridors. The corridors were more like a labyrinth than an underground complex. If someone wasn't familiar with the layout they would easily get lost. They had to go up several more flights of steps and a couple of times they ran into fellow workers. Most ran before they came into contact with the X-Men. One had a firearm and tried to shoot them in a vain attempt to stop them. He fired six bullets but Jean used her telekinetic powers to deflect them away from danger. Wolverine then knocked him out cold with one punch.

Eventually the X-Men reached what seemed to be the control room. They entered cautiously but the place seemed to be deserted. They saw the screens that Arcade had used to monitor what was going on in his theme park of death. Wolverine sniffed around and got Arcade's scent along with something else more disturbing. He could also hear a ticking sound too quiet for anyone else to hear, and suddenly the ticking stopped and became a beeping sound. He quickly turned around to his fellow X-Men.

"KITTY PHASE!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Since Kitty was already holding onto Bobby she quickly grabbed Jean who was within arm's length and then concentrated on phasing. No sooner had she done this a bomb inside the room exploded sending Wolverine flying through the door. The blast itself did no damage to the other X-Men but the room around them began to collapse around them. Huge pieces of debris came crashing around them but while Kitty was phasing the debris simple went right through them. There was a ringing sound in their ears due to their close proximity to the explosion. For several moments it was like they were deaf but as the seconds ticked by their hearing began to return.

The blast would have been enough to kill any normal person, but for now it was only Wolverine who had felt the blast. Kitty then began to walk towards where the exit had once been but now there was debris blocking her way. She also made sure that she maintained contact with Bobby and Jean. If she lost her contact with them they would solidify instantly and if they were phasing through the debris the results would be fatal.

Eventually they reached a safe distance from the blast area and Kitty turned off her phasing powers but now they were in another corridor and Wolverine was nowhere in sight. Without hesitation Kitty phased back into the blast zone and tried to locate Wolverine. She discovered him under a large piece of debris unconscious. He was still alive but it would be difficult to move him. Although Wolverine was a small man the adamantium which coated his entire skeleton weighed him down immensely. Kitty was resorted to dragging him away and phasing at the same time. If she could have increased her size and phased at the same time the task would be much easier.

Progress was slow and Kitty grunted every time she pulled Wolverine closer to safety. One other problem she had was that when she was phasing through a solid object she couldn't breathe. She couldn't stop however since Wolverine would die if he solidified in a piece of debris. She kept pulling and pulling until she eventually cleared the area, but the whole ordeal had taken a lot out of her. She was sweating and panting for air but the most important thing to her was that Wolverine was free.

Moments later Wolverine started to get back to his feet. His body was covered with burns and cuts which were enough to kill a normal person. But as he steadied himself onto his feet the burns and cuts began to heal over. He also shifted his shoulder back into place which caused a momentary sensation of pain.

"You done well kid," said Wolverine as the last of his wounds healed over. By now Kitty had back herself to a wall to support herself.

"Any time Logan," replied Kitty with shortness of breaths. "But what the hell happened to Arcade? I thought Jean said he was supposed to be here."

"He's gone."

"Then there is no point in staying," replied Jean. "I can get us out of here in no time flat." She then tapped her head.

"If I see another damn circus in my entire life it'll be too soon. And if I see another damn clown I'm gonna make him a full head shorter."

The X-Men didn't leave straight away; they waited for a couple of minutes for Ice-Man and Kitty to catch their breaths. The momentary rest was enough for them to recover somewhat. They would need full rest before they were back to their peak. But the last thing they wanted to do was spend more time in Murderworld.

Once again Jean accessed the memories that she had acquired from the worker. At first she wasn't sure which corridor was in since there had been a lot of confusion after the control room had exploded. It took a minute or so to fully recognise where they were or else they would have been walking around in circles. She then pointed down towards a door several metres away from them.

"That way," she said with a smile.

The X-Men wasted no time in making their way to the exit. They were disappointed that Arcade had escaped but it seemed that Murderworld had been put out of commission. Jean had also scanned the area and she couldn't detect anyone else who was a victim of Arcade's madness. If there had been she would never leave them to die no matter how much she might have disliked them. Wolverine on the other hand would have left them to die if they were an enemy.

After several minutes of twists, turns and many more steps the X-Men saw what looked to be daylight. Ice-Man was the first to break through and enter the sunlight. As soon as he was outside he fell to the ground and shouted a cry of joy. The other X-Men were also relieved to be outside but their reactions were a lot more subtle. They also noticed that they seemed to be in what seemed to be an abandoned quarry. There was no one in sight and it looked like the quarry itself had been abandoned for some time. There was grass growing on the ground and rusted equipment littered all over the site.

"We're free," cried Bobby. "Oh thank God we're free." Kitty walked up behind him and smiled at him. He turned his head towards her and there were some tears of relief rolling down his face. She then heard a quiet meowing noise and she looked to her pocket. She saw that Tobias was still there and relatively uninjured. "You still have that monster?"

"He's no monster," replied Kitty. She then began to stroke Tobias's head. "He's just a cute little kitty cat now."

"Where the hell are we?" asked Wolverine. He was looking around everywhere but there didn't seem to be anything he recognised. Nothing seemed to be familiar to him and he had no idea where they were.

"I'm not sure," replied Jean. "When I scanned the worker even he didn't know where this place was. He just got on plane in Wyoming and ended up here."

Suddenly the ground began to shake once again. Several metres in front of the X-Men the ground was beginning to crack and shoot up as if something below was trying to push through. Just then a huge fist crashed upwards through the ground. Wolverine instantly extended his claws and got himself ready for a fight. At least this fist he recognised without hesitation.

More of the ground cracked as a huge arm followed the fist up. Then a brown helmeted head popped up and so did another equally large arm. When the being fully emerged from the ground the X-Men soon realised that it was none other than the Juggernaut. There was a lot of dirt surrounding him and he brushed it aside in an attempt to clean himself up. He also looked towards the X-Men with disgust.

"DID YOU FORGET ABOUT LITTLE OLD ME?" shouted the Juggernaut, his voice was so loud that it scared Tobias who was still in Kitty's pocket. "ARCADE MAY HAVE RUN WITH HIS TAIL BETWEEN HIS LEGS BUT YOU STILL HAVE ME! KILLING FOUR OF HIS PRESIOUS X-MEN WILL REMIND MY HALF BROTHER THAT NO ONE CAN DEFEAT THE JUGGERNAUT!"

Without a moment of hesitation the Juggernaut began to run at full speed towards the X-Men. When Juggernaut ran there was practically no force on earth that could stop him or even slow him down. All the X-Men could do was dive out of his way and he went crashing through the door that had led to Murderworld. The impacted caused no damage to the Juggernaut but the entrance itself was completely destroyed. This was only a fraction of the power he possessed.

But for all of his strength and power Juggernaut did have one weakness. Although he was impervious to physical attacks he was weak against telepathic attacks. To combat this weakness Juggernaut's helmet worked much like Magneto's did. The helmet blocked all telepathic attacks and left his mind safe. If his helmet was removed his weakness would be exposed.

This weakness was well known to the X-Men and they had trained to combat Juggernaut in the Danger Room. Fighting simulations was one thing but facing the real thing was something else entirely. There was always that unpredictability that came with fighting a human rather than a computer. Normally it had been the entire roster that would fight the Juggernaut simulation in the Danger Room. This time there was only four of them but they still had their key player, Jean Grey.

After destroying the entrance all Juggernaut did was turn around and once again run towards the X-Men. This time however Wolverine stood his ground. Just as Juggernaut was about to strike him Wolverine jumped onto the back of the big man and began to slash at his helmet. This seemed futile however as Juggernaut simple stopped running and grabbed him and was about to slam him into the ground.

Suddenly a beam of ice struck Juggernaut square in the chest. The beam had come from Ice-Man who once again iced himself over. His ice beam was not as strong as it could have been since he was fatigued from his experience in Murderworld. Even if it had been at full power it wouldn't slow the Juggernaut for very long. If anything it just made Juggernaut laugh at him with his loud booming voice.

"Chill out," said Ice-Man. "I think it's time you had a cool down session,"

"PLEASE STOP THAT TICKLES!" laughed the Juggernaut.

He threw Wolverine towards Ice-Man, Wolverine's body blocked Ice-Man's beam causing him to ice over. Before Ice-Man could stop Wolverine had been completely frozen and he hit the ground with a thud.

Juggernaut easily broke the ice that had formed on his chest. Instead of using another ice-beam Ice-Man began to throw ice shards at Juggernaut. He wasn't throwing the shards randomly but instead aimed at Juggernaut's helmet. If he could remove it then Jean could shut his mind down.

Juggernaut was not unintelligent however. He knew that if he took out Jean Grey the other X-Men would eventually fall. He noticed her several metres away trying to use her telekinesis to keep him away. Although she was very powerful her telekinesis was too weak to stop someone like the Juggernaut.

Although Jean was trying to hide it she was terrified when Juggernaut came running towards her. She tried her best to keep him away and Ice-Man was continually throwing ice shards at him. But it seemed that nothing was slowing him down as he moved closer and closer.

There was one X-Man that Juggernaut had almost neglected. Kitty could see that Juggernaut was running towards Jean, she could also see that Jean's eyes were glowing bright pink. She remembered what happened when Jean overextended herself, it would be as if someone else was possessing her body, someone more terrifying.

Since Kitty was a great deal closer to Jean she ran towards her friend. Juggernaut was surprisingly quick for a man of his size and he was closing in on Jean. Kitty ran as fast as she could although her life didn't depend on it, instead it was Jean's life.

When Juggernaut was mere metres from Jean Kitty was fingertips way from her. With the slightest touch Kitty made Jean and herself intangible. No more than a second after Kitty had reached Jean Juggernaut ploughed through them. Since both girls were intangible the Juggernaut simple went through as if they were ghosts. At first he was surprised but the shock quickly wore off and he simple turned around.

"WHY WON'T YOU X-MEN DIE?" shouted Juggernaut. Before he had been enjoying himself but now he seemed annoyed. Instead of running he simple walked towards the two X-Women. "I'M GOING TO BREAK EVERY BONE IN YOUR BODIES! ONE AT A TIME!"

"If you want us come get us," replied Kitty. "Or are you what the Spanish call un pollo grande?"

Jean thought that Kitty's mind was breaking down since she was actually taunting the Juggernaut. Most people who taunted the Juggernaut often had their life expectancy severally cut shut. Almost instantly the Juggernaut's slow walked turned into a run. Ice-Man's ice shards had weakened to such a degree that he could no longer throw the shards at the right distance and they all began to fall short.

Kitty pushed Jean to one side and stood her ground as the Juggernaut came closer. Juggernaut's rage was completely taking over him and his vision seemingly narrowed on the woman in front of him. This was exactly what she wanted and she waited as he ran closer towards her.

"Yes that's it come closer," thought Kitty as she watched him run towards her. "Come to aunty Kitty you big lummox."

"I'M GOING TO CRUSH YOU LITTLE GIRL!" shouted Juggernaut.

"Kitty!" shouted Jean as it seemed that Juggernaut was strike her friend. Although she knew that she would phase through him it was still terrifying to watch.

As soon as the Juggernaut reached Kitty like expected she phased through him. But just before the impact Kitty had raised her arm and grabbed a small part of Juggernaut's helmet. She also made it intangible and it simple went through the Juggernaut. When he realised what had happened he knew his helmet had been removed. Kitty stood where she had been but this time she had Juggernaut's large helmet in her hands.

"Ole," said Kitty with a smile on her face.

Juggernaut was now exposed and Jean instantly started to use her telepathy to attack his mind. The Juggernaut began to cry in pain and he held his hands to his head trying to fight Jean's influence.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" shouted the Juggernaut. The pain was almost unbearable, it was like his brain was trying to crawl out of his skull. "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE FOR THIS YOU BITCH!"

The pain was even too much for him to bear. Instead of wanting to destroy the X-Men instead all he could think about was escaping. He couldn't see clearly through the pain and he just ran to one side. Using all his strength he jumped several hundred feet into the air trying to get out of Jean's range. She was very powerful but even she had her own limits, as he jumped further and further away he eventually jumped out of range. He knew better than to return while his helmet was removed. The X-Men might have defeated him for now but this would not be the last that they had seen of the Juggernaut.

Now that the Juggernaut was out of the fight the X-Men began to re-cooperate. Wolverine broke himself out of his icy tomb and tried to rub his body to warm himself up. He concentrated on his chest rather than his arms since it was a more sufficient way to warm himself up.

"N-next time popsicle watch where you aim," said Wolverine with a chill in his voice.

"Sorry Logan," replied Ice-Man. "You know you did look kinda nice as an ice sculpture." He then began to laugh and Wolverine growled at him.

"Try that again Freeze Boy I'll stick these claws so far up where the sun don't shine that you'll need them surgically removed."

Just a few metres away Kitty helped Jean up to her feet. She had thrown Juggernaut's helmet to one so that she could help her. Jean was dirty from where she had hit the ground but other than that she was unharmed.

"Jean are you alright?" asked Kitty.

"Yeah I'm fine," replied Jean while she brushed the dirt off of her clothes. "I hate having to do that." She always felt guilty when she used her powers to harm people but this was one of the few scenarios that she didn't have a choice. "I think I might have gone too far."

"Don't worry about it girl. If anything you didn't go far enough. He wouldn't have stopped until we were all dead."

"I think we might have to abandon our shopping day. Being kidnapped and put into a murderous theme park just seems to dampen the day."

Both girls laugh but then they heard something above them. They could hear the roaring of a jet engine and all the X-men looked up into the sky expecting more trouble. They saw a large black jet above them and it looked very familiar. As it lowered they could see a man waving at them through the cockpit window. The man was none other than the X-Men's tech guru Forge.

Jean began to wave her arms to signal to him and the jet lowered further until it gently reached the ground below. It landed a few metres form where the X-Men were standing and it blew up dust and dirt so they had to cover their eyes. As the engines died down the dust and dirt began to settle, the ramp leading up to the jet lowered down to the ground. The X-Men walked towards the ramp and one by one they walked up the ramp and into the X-Jet. Words could not describe how relieved they were. It did seem strange however that the others had found them. Even they didn't know where they were.

On the jet they saw that Forge wasn't the only occupant. Cyclops and Beast were also present, Jean couldn't help but give Cyclops the biggest hug that she had ever given to anyone. Cyclops himself even groaned in pain. She saw this and quickly broke off the hug.

"I'm sorry Scott I didn't mean to hurt you," said Jean.

"Don't worry about it," replied Cyclops. He gave her a reassuring some even though there was some blood on his lips. "The most important thing is that you're here now and everyone else is safe.

"Thank God you guys came," said Ice-Man. Once again he was almost crying tears of joy. "You will not believe what we went through."

That was when he noticed that Cyclops, Beast and Forge were all battered and bruised. Parts of their costumes were also ripped and tattered. It looked like they had been in a war zone. Whatever had happened to them he thought that it couldn't be worse than going through Murderworld.

Wolverine also noticed as he shook hands with Beast. He didn't normally show much gratitude but this time he was glad that they had come.

"Ah Logan my friend when we heard you were taken to Murderworld we feared the worse," said Beast. "I'm relieved to see that you are unharmed."

"Hardly anything can harm me bub," replied Wolverine. "But I may have been in big trouble if the others weren't here though." He took one additional look at Beast. Some of his fur was burned and there was some bruising on his cheek. "What the hell happened to you?"

Kitty walked into the cockpit where Forge was sitting. He was using the jet's controls to gently raise the jet off the ground. She sat down in the co-pilots seat and strapped herself in. She had been training to fly the X-Jet and Forge didn't seem to mind her sitting down. She looked towards her.

"You guys aright?" asked Forge. "We feared that we'd get here too late. But it seems you guys had everything under wraps." Like the others he was also battered and bruised. He also noticed Tobias's head popping out of her pocket. "What is that?"

"This little kitty cat is Tobias my Special Little Guy," replied Kitty stroking the tiny cat. She then looked back to Forge. "How did you find us?"

The X-Jet reached cruising altitude and began to fly back home. The X-Men may have survived this day but there were new more deadly threats over the horizon. The X-Men's work was far from done.

The End

Next "Immortal."


	3. Volume 3: Immortal

Inside the fabled X-Mansion the day seemed to have started out like any normal day. Professor Xavier and Scott Summers were in Xavier's study discussing recent affairs and the structure of the X-Men team. Logan was once again working out in the mansion's gym and Bobby Drake was seemingly just loitering around. Jean Grey and Kitty Pryde had gone to New York to clothes shop since Kitty no longer had any casual clothes that fitted her. The X-Men biological and chemical expert was in the mansion's library reading another Shakespeare play.

Finally the mutant known only as Forge was working in his lab in the mansion's subbasement. For the past couple of days he had totally submerged in his work and had hardly seen the others in that time. Since Cerebro had been destroyed by Magneto some weeks earlier he had been designing a new and improved Cerebro. The planning on such a device would be so complicated that there would only be a small handful of people in the entire world could understand it. Forge was one of those people since his mutant powers allowed him to build any kind of machine.

He was drawing up the final blueprint of what would become Cerebro. In the background his radio was playing Barry White's 'My First, My Last, My Everything' and he hummed along to it. Forge often found that listening to music helped him work and if Hank was also present they would put on classical music. In that genre Tchaikovsky was his favourite although a lot of the time they'd listen to Beethoven.

Forge however did feel a little depressed that his mutant amplifier been destroyed but he also knew the dangers of it falling into the wrong hands. Although there were great benefits if the amplifier had functioned like he had designed it, it was probably for the best that it was destroyed. After the entire incident he did not plan on making another one no matter how tempting the thought.

Around him were a few other blueprints of various devices that would benefit the X-Men and the world at large. But designing and building a new Cerebro was the most important project at the moment. Without a Cerebro Professor Xavier could not help the X-Men in the field. Neither could he locate any new mutants or people of interest. It would make their work much harder.

Suddenly Forge could hear shouting and he tried to ignore it and got back to his work. But the shouting continued and it was too much of a distraction. He stood up from the table he was sitting at and walked to the subbasement's detention room. There he saw Shortpack still in his mouse cage. The tiny mutant was still a captive of the X-Men since Professor Xavier was still trying to figure out what to do with him. Shortpack's telepathic abilities prevented Jean or Professor Xavier from wiping his memory. He was still too much a liability to be simply released. Although he wanted one of the female X-Men to visit him Professor Xavier had already banned them from visiting. Even if they were allowed Jean and Kitty didn't want to go anywhere near him since he had spied on them and taking pictures while they dressing and showering.

When Forge entered he could see that Shortpack had been trying to bend the bars but his size didn't grant him the strength necessary to perform such a feat. He was having to resort to being an annoyance if he couldn't be a threat. But Forge just stood there and crossed his arms and glared at the tiny mutant

.

"What do you want now?" asked Forge with detest in his voice.

"You know you can't keep me here!" shouted Shortpack at the top of his lungs. "I know my human rights. So release me before I take every penny that you pathetic X-Men."

"Somehow I doubt that. As for your human rights as far as the government see it we're not even human. And besides you broke and entered the mansion and spied on my female colleagues. If we were human you'd be locked up faster than the Blob when he sees an all you can eat buffet."

"Oh hardy har har. My mutant brothers will break me out of here. Then I will piss all over your graves."

"Yeah, yeah." Forge quietly turned around and walked away. This infuriated the tiny mutant who continued to shout at him.

"Don't you walk away from me!" His rage made it hard for him to think straight. "I will watch you DIE!"

Forge simply ignored Shortpack and began to walk back to his lab. He could still hear him shouting but it was more of a nuisance than anything to be truly worried about. He had too much work to do and he needed to do it as quickly as possible. The sooner he completed Cerebro was the sooner that Professor Xavier could help the X-Men in the field.

Suddenly he heard something that disturbed him deeply. Directly above him was the mansion's gym and it sounded like there was a struggle. This was accompanied with a loud thud and gunshots. He didn't know what was happening upstairs but he knew that none of the X-Men besides himself carried any kind of weapons.

Forge quickly ran into his lab and pressed a couple of keys on his nearby computer. Seconds later a secret door in the wall opened revealing an arsenal of weapons that were superior to anything any of the world's military had. Each weapon was a creation of Forge which he painstakingly designed and assembled himself. The weapons came in all different shapes and sizes, there were rifles, handguns, shotguns, grenades and what seemed to be a large metal chemical drum. What was inside was a mystery to everyone except Forge.

The weapon he picked was a powerful stun gun, it was powerful to stop a bull elephant but it could deadly to humans if the shot was powered up enough. He chose this weapon since like the others he preferred not to kill his enemies. When he was a soldier he killed a lot of enemies and each one haunted him when he slept at night. He also lost a lot of good men during the tour, many of them were his friends before the war. His mechanical arm and leg was a constant reminder of what he had lost in what seemed to be a pointless war.

As Forge quickly made his way up to the mansion's ground floor he could hear the struggle continue. As he passed Xavier's office he saw his fellow teammate Scott open the door and run towards the gym. Forge quickened his pace so that he could catch up with him but he didn't know what to expect when they reached the gym. It could be an attack on the X-Men or a training session gone wrong.

"What's going on Scott?" asked Forge as they were quickly approaching the mansion's gym. "Are we under attack?"

"I don't know," replied Scott with dread. "But the sooner we get there the sooner we can find out what the hell's going on."

"Is the Professor alright?"

"He's making his way to the subbasement. He should be safe down there."

"I can only hope you're right my friend."

As they came closer to the gym they could hear muffled voices and another loud thud. Forge powered up his weapon in anticipation for the fight to come. He still had some built in frustration from the fact that his amplifier had been destroyed. This would be a good way to vent his anger.

But when they eventually reached the gym they found it eerily empty. They had expected to see their teammates Logan and Bobby and maybe a mysterious stranger. Instead the room was somewhat frozen from Bobby's use of his powers but there was also fresh blood on the ground. Forge slowly walked into the room and began to look around, that was when he noticed the scorch marks on the ground. Scott entered the room after him and was surprised that only the equipment was present.

"What the hell happened?" asked Cyclops as he continued to look around. "Where are Logan and Bobby?"

"Gone," replied Forge. He walked over to some burn marks on the ground. The burn mark however wasn't from the gun fire. He squatted down to the mark and rubbed it with his right index and middle finger. "From the looks of it they've been teleported."

"Teleported? Nightcrawler could teleport, maybe it's another mutant that has similar abilities."

"Maybe but Nightcrawler never left burn marks when he teleported. This looks more technology based than natural ability."

"Is that even possible? You tried to make a teleporter and that didn't work out. Are you telling me that someone's achieved something you couldn't?"

"Not only that it seems to be a miniaturised version. The one I attempted required two pods, one to enter and one to teleport to. That couldn't happen here however, whoever did this has access to technology until now I haven't even conceived."

Forge used his fingers to pick up some of the burn residue and he took a closer at it. It was something that he had not expected to see but it was plausible. But it still disturbed him that someone had access to technology like this. If they had technology like this he dreaded to think what else they had.

Several minutes later Forge and Scott had joined Hank and Professor Xavier in the sitting room. Professor Xavier was very worried about his missing X-Men, over the years a few of his students had died for his dream and he wasn't prepared to let more die. He knew that the X-Men were more than capable of protecting themselves but the fact that someone was able to take two of them right out of the mansion. With his close encounter with Magneto the other week mortality was constantly on his mind. But he needed to put on a brave face for his remaining students. If they saw that he was in despair team morale would be at an all time low.

"My X-Men I fear we have a new enemy," said Xavier. "Roughly fifteen minutes ago Logan and Robert were kidnapped off mansion grounds by an unknown enemy. To top everything off I have attempted to contact Jean in New York with no luck. With both our telepathic abilities we should still be able to contact each other. I am left to assume that they too have been taken hostage."

"This is getting ridiculous," replied Cyclops with some anger in his voice. "How long will it be until we're all kidnapped? We have to rescue them before they're hurt or worse. If they do anything to Jean I swear I will not be held responsible for my actions." He couldn't bear the thought of losing her. She was his soul mate and to him life wasn't worth living if she was taken from him.

"Scott please remain calm," said Hank. "I don't think things are quite straight forward here. If they wanted to outright kill them they would have done it there and then. The chances of this being a ransom are extremely slim, there is no one really related to the X-Men who have a lot of money. Except maybe Charles but I find that very unlikely. There is a purpose to the kidnapping but I fear that if we don't act soon we might never see our friends again."

"I've taken steps into tracking down our mysterious kidnapper," added Forge. He then looked into a handheld device. "I think I can pinpoint the energy used by the teleporter our friend used. Most likely with a small size teleport device I doubt that they could have travelled long distances."

"Good," replied Xavier. "I'll leave locating them to you Forge." He then looked over to Scott and Hank. "Scott I need you to prepare the X-Jet, Hank there is something we need to discuss."

"As you wish Professor," answered Scott.

Minutes later Scott and Forge both left the study leaving Professor Xavier and Hank behind. Hank could tell that there was something terrible on Xavier's mind. He dreaded to think what it could be. In the past Xavier had sometimes sort council from Hank since he was one of the oldest and most intelligent members of the team. His insight was often invaluable and helped Xavier in times of doubt.

"It's happening again Hank," said Professor Xavier in a sombre voice.

"Charles?" replied Hank with some confusion.

"When I formed the X-Men I knew that there would be risks. But this attack on my students is pushing me close to breaking point. I'm afraid that if my mind slips HE will once again be free."

"Charles you cannot say that. You're one of the strongest people I know, if anyone has the strength to contain him you can."

"Unfortunately he isn't making the task any easier." Xavier then gave out sigh of despair. "He's getting stronger every day. Soon not even I can hold him back."

"Oh my star and garters." Hank took a step back at this news. "W-what do we do Professor?"

"For now there is nothing we can do. I must remain strong and composed, if I push past my breaking point he will once again be free. If that were to happen it will take the combined might of the X-Men to once again defeat him."

Below the mansion in the subbasement Forge was once again in his lab working. But instead of finishing the designs for Cerebro he was using his custom built computer to try and locate his missing teammates. He had figured that a teleportation device would most likely leave a tell-tale energy signature which he would use to locate them. He had built sensors in almost every room in the mansion for such emergencies. Since he had installed them he had no use for them but now he was glad that he had done it. Without them picking up the energy signature would be almost impossible.

As the minutes ticked by his tests weren't bringing anything back. He made the computer scan for various different energy waves during the struggle in the mansion's gym but nothing seemed to be coming up. He knew that the longer it took him to locate the signature the less likely it was to find his teammates and friends alive. Whoever had done this knew just how to strike them and how to get away before the rest of the team even knew what was happening. Once again the scenario reminded him a lot about his time in Vietnam, it was a tactic the Vietcong had used on many occasions.

Just as he was beginning to lose hope his computer picked up what he was after. Every time the mysterious stranger had jumped it left a signature which he could trace. Before he could locate more of these signatures he decided to scan the type of energy that the device had produced. Much to his surprise it was something that he had never come across before. It almost seemed alien to him. It was something he would have to study in greater detail when he had the time.

As Forge scanned deeper into the energy signature his computer brought forth a map of the local area where it had detected the same signature. These were most likely teleportation jumps made by the mysterious stranger. There were hundreds of these signatures and it would be close to impossible for the remaining X-Men to locate every single location. Instead he tried to see if there was a pattern so that he could find the most likely place that the stranger was. It only took him moments to discover what seemed to be a very large mansion like building where the signatures were the most numerous.

It wasn't conclusive evidence but it was a good place to start. It still bothered him that the technology to teleport even existed. As far as he knew the only thing that could teleport was a former X-Man named Kurt Wagner a.k.a. Nightcrawler. Unfortunately he left the X-Men shortly before Forge's arrival for religious reasons. He had seen him a couple of times since and seen his abilities first hand but never him leave scorch marks or leave any kind of energy signature.

Meanwhile in the mansion's hangar Scott was preparing the X-Jet for the impending rescue of his team mates. He was trying to keep his hands busy so he didn't have to think about Jean. Ever since they had come to Xavier's school in their teenage years the two had almost been inseparable. He would have liked to call it love at first sight but at first he was too shy to approach her. It had taken all his courage to ask her out on a date and to him it was the most terrifying thing he had ever done. This was even compared to battles against Magneto and his devoted followers and others who wished to harm the X-Men.

Over the years Scott and Jean had grown so close that he even viewed her as his soul mate. If he were to lose her he would become a broken man inside, he had already suffered the death of his younger brother he didn't want to lose anyone else close to him.

Although the X-Jet was created by Forge it was really Scott who saw it as his pride and joy. He was the one who cleaned it and performed routine maintenance on the jet so that it would fly smoothly. Although he wasn't a fully trained technician he still knew how to maintain his beloved jet. Forge had taught him how his components worked and it was Scott who would look after them from then on. When he had some free time and wasn't doing anything with Jean he would come down here and unwind. It reminded him of someone who would relax by working on his car or bike.

He had many close calls in this jet but each time the jet had never failed him. It had received a few scrapes and dents throughout its time but never had it been completely taken out of action. Not only was it extremely fast and agile it was also extremely durable. It had survived what would have taken down a normal plane.

After a few minutes Scott was finishing off his preparations when he saw Forge and Hank all suited up enter the hangar. The sight made him happy inside since it meant that they were leaving soon. The only thing he had left to do was suit himself up and no longer be Scott Summers but the X-Men's field leader Cyclops. At least on the jet each X-Man kept a spare suit in case of emergencies.

After suiting up Cyclops lowered the ramp so that his teammates could enter the jet. He was eagerly awaiting whatever news Forge had to offer. Anything was better than not know what had happened to his love.

Forge was once again armed with heavy weapons and a few side weapons all of his own creation. If any of the world's governments got a hold of these weapons the face if warfare would be changed overnight.

"What's happening Forge?" asked Cyclops. "Have you found where Jean and the others were taken?"

"Not exactly," replied Forge. "But I have been able to track down the most likely location. It's not concrete evidence but it's a good starting point."

"Will the Professor be alright here by himself?"

"I've given him one of my weapons to defend himself. Although the Professor prefers to not to have to use it."

"I suggest we move gingerly," said Beast. He had taken great consideration into the situation at hand. "We still don't know who took the others and why. Whoever performed this daring escapade obviously has vast resources. There is almost no doubt that whoever is responsible will be extremely difficult to defeat."

"Then we mustn't waste time. Belt up and prepare for take-off." His command had been stern and to the point. He saw Beast sit down and immediately fasten his seatbelt while Forge made his way to the cockpit.

For this flight he would be the co-pilot since it was difficult to fly the X-Jet with only one pilot. Like Beast before him Forge strapped himself to the co-pilot as Cyclops sat in the captain's seat. The engines were already warmed up so all Cyclops did was push a red button near the jet's control column. The roof above the jet began to open up from what was the mansion's tennis court. When the roof had fully opened a bell rang inside the cockpit. This was Cyclops's cue to lift the jet into the sky.

As Cyclops and Forge fumbled with the controls the X-Jet slowly began to rise from the ground. It was slow rising at first but as the seconds went by the accent increased in speed. The roar of the engines was enough to blow anyone away who was unfortunate enough to be too close. The world below them seemed to shrink before them as the jet climbed higher and higher into the sky.

As soon as they were at the right altitude Forge typed in a set of co-ordinates into the jet's computer system. Seconds later the autopilot engaged and jet turned one hundred and eighty degrees in the air and then shot away at supersonic speed. It was too fast to be picked up by radar so they would hopefully be clear of any interference from government forces.

Cyclops was very anxious during the flight since his worry for Jean was eating him inside. He was also worried about the welfare of the other kidnapped X-Men but Jean was in the front most of his mind. He would never be truly happy until she was back into his arms once again. Every second of the flight seemed to be an eternity to him. For now he felt powerless to help his fellow X-Men.

As the jet neared its destination Beast was feeling somewhat nervous. It wasn't entirely the mission that had made him nervous but what Professor Xavier had told him earlier. If the Professor were to exceed his breaking point there would be great trouble heading towards the X-Men. A foe who would stop at nothing to destroy the X-Men and especially their mentor Professor Charles Xavier.

Just over the horizon Forge and Cyclops could see where they were heading. Just below them was the large mansion like house that Forge had located on his computer. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary about it. Forge began to think that he might have taken them to the wrong place. But looks could be deceiving; the mansion that Professor Xavier owned was much in the same sense. From the outside it looked like a normal mansion but on the inside it was the home of the X-Men.

Forge used the X-Jet's instruments to scan the ground below them. At this point in time they were just over the mysterious mansion. As the mansion was being scanned nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. The only way that he could be sure that this was the right place he would need to go on foot.

Slowly Cyclops and Forge flew the X-Jet a short distance away from the mansion and gently landed on a flat piece of land. The jet's cloaking system was activated and the jet seemingly turned invisible. However the cloaking effect would not last for long since it would since it took a huge amount of energy.

As the jet landed safely Forge released his seatbelt and began to make his way to the jet's exit. At first he didn't say anything to his fellow X-Men but while he waited for the ramp to lower he turned to Cyclops and Beast.

"I'm going down there," said Forge making sure that his guns were adequately fastened to his body. "If Jean and the others are anywhere nearby I'll find them. Don't know what's down there so it's safe that you stay here for now."

"You leaving us behind?" replied Cyclops with disgust. "There's no way I'm letting you go by yourself."

"I can cover more ground by myself. When our mysterious friend attack the mansion he left a small amount of blood, with that I can find him if he's nearby. If I find him I will find our teammates. Also if only I go it'll attract less attention and let's face it you and Beast stand out in the crowd.

With Cyclops's visor and Beast's ape like appearance they would in deed stand out from the norm. Although Beast had never normally looked like an ape. When he first joined the X-Men he looked like a normal person, the only thing that looked out of place was his hands and feet were abnormally large. Over time however he mutated further and his appearance changed. Although his body had changed his mind stayed the same.

Cyclops had to admit defeat in the matter. Forge's Native American heritage and teachings gave him tracking skills that rivalled that of a bloodhound. His skills were nothing to do with the fact that he was a mutant but rather from his culture. This talent had helped the X-Men a few times before and so far it had never failed them. All he could do was nod as he watched Forge leave the jet.

Beast just sat there and for now had not said a word. Although like Wolverine Beast's senses were at a superhuman levels. But even these were not as useful as Forge's tracking skills. But there was one thing that Beast could do for Forge that would be some help to him while he was tracking the other X-Men.

"Take this," said Beast. He threw a small electronic earpiece towards Forge as he exited the Jet. Forge caught it almost instinctively. "Keep in constant radio contact with us, we no longer have the Professor supervising us and without him there is no way to communicate to each other. At the first sign that something is amiss we will come to your aid."

"As you wish my friend," replied Forge as he placed the device in his right ear. "There's something about this place that makes me uneasy. Things do not appear as they seem."

Forge finally exited the X-Jet and took a quick look back at it to make sure that the cloaking system had activated. He was still working out the bugs in the system but for now it seemed to be doing its job. At least he wouldn't have to worry about anyone seeing the X-Jet on the ground.

He then slowly made his way towards the mysterious mansion. There was some ground between him and the mansion and he trod carefully. Although he had scanned the area from the air it wasn't conclusive evidence that this place was harmless. There could be hidden dangers that no tech could detect.

Once again his mind flashed back to his tour in Vietnam. While on search and destroy missions the enemy had left hidden traps to maim and kill US soldiers. He had seen soldiers who had fallen victim to these traps and their injuries were horrific. One trap was particularly gruesome because the Vietcong would coat their bamboo spikes with animal faeces and anyone unfortunate enough to fall victim to the trap would be infected. They would suffer a painful slow death.

As Forge's mind reverted back to the present he moved slowly and low to the ground. He found a couple of footprints in the grassy ground that led directly towards the mansion. There were also a few drops of blood near the footprints. Since he could not know for sure whether it belonged to the mysterious person who had attacked the mansion, but the fact that it was obvious that someone had been wounded and the fact that the energy signatures were discovered here made it hard to dispute that they were on the right track. The tracks and blood were very recent and seemed to be only a couple of minutes old. He placed his finger into his finger into his right ear where the communication device was.

"Beast can you hear me?" asked Forge. At first he seemed to only get static. "Beast are you there?"

After a couple of seconds the static seemed to be clearing and he began to hear a very familiar voice.

"Forge I'm here," replied Beast. He was still on the jet but he was using the jet's systems to track Forge's movements. "Have you discovered anything?"

"I've found a blood trail and footprints. They lead directly to the mansion and they're fresh. Whoever left these could not have been here no longer than half an hour ago."

"This is indeed good news my friend but be vigilante."

"Will do."

He began to move closer and closer towards the mansion unaware that he was being watched by someone other than his teammates. At the mansion itself there was a CCTV system that recorded anyone wondering towards it. Inside the mansion someone was watching Forge on the security monitors. This person had short black hair and had a small scar on his left cheek. In front of him was a large red button and he placed his hand over it in preparation.

Suddenly another man walked up behind him and placed his hand on his shoulder. This man had short blond hair and a slim build. He watched the security monitors for a couple of seconds and then shook his head.

"No not yet," said the blonde man. "Let him come closer."

"Are you sure boss?" replied the other man with some surprise.

"Sure him get as close as I want him. Then you can rock his world."

A smile grew on his face. He had been waiting for this for some years and wanted to savour every moment. His hatred he felt for Forge seemed to have no end but it wasn't apparent to anyone exactly why he hated the X-Man so much. But all would be revealed in good time, all he had to do was wait.

As Forge moved closer to the mansion he felt that something was off. Although he was constantly looking for traps everything seemed to be normal, a little too normal for his liking. There was no doubt that the mysterious man who had taken Logan and Bobby had been here and very recently he had expected there to be more security. It was obvious that whoever owned this land was very wealthy and would most likely have some kind of security system. Although he couldn't put his finger on it things felt very wrong.

Forge continued to follow the tracks and the blood and eventually found a burn mark in the ground similar to the one he found in the X-Mansion. But it left him with a dilemma, although he now knew for sure that he had been here the burn mark meant that he had teleported somewhere. He had no idea where he could have gone but he couldn't abandon his pursuit. Instead he needed some assistance from his teammates.

"Beast I need you to scan for any heat signatures," said Forge with his finger on the communication device in his ear.

"One moment," replied Beast. Forge then heard a few clicking sounds as if he was typing on a computer. A minute went by until he finally heard Beast's voice again. "There're about eight heat signatures inside the building but none on the outside."

"Thank you Beast."

By now he was only a couple of metres away from the mansion itself and suddenly he felt a strange energy wave flow right through him and it spread throughout the surrounding area. Next thing he knew his robotic arm and leg suddenly went dead and he fell to the ground. His teammates couldn't see what was happening to him but they did have problems of their own to deal with.

The wave had also struck the jet and all electrical systems instantly failed. It was no impossible to use any of the jet's systems or devices, even the device that Beast was using to communicate with Forge had gone dead. Cyclops was most surprised with what had happened. He quickly got up from his seat and tried to work the jet's electronics, not even the lights were working. Another thing that had gone down was the jet's cloaking device, they could now be seen by everyone.

"What the hell just happened?" asked Cyclops as he tried to start the systems up again with no success.

"We've been hit with some kind of EMP wave," replied Beast. "Fascinating it's the most powerful EMP wave I've ever encountered."

"Admire it later Beast, if Forge was hit by the same wave he's going to need help." It was lucky that the jet's ramp had already been lowered so it would have been impossible to open without the power.

"Then may I suggest a quick and immediate rescue and evac?"

"Rescue yes, evacuation no. I'm not leaving here until we have Jean and the others back. I don't care what it takes, they come first."

"As you wish Cyclops." He was surprised with Cyclops's words. But he knew that whenever Jean was in trouble he would go to extreme lengths to make sure that she was safe. He didn't think that it would go as far as taking someone else's life but when a man is in love they tended to do things that they would never do otherwise. Like Cyclops Beast was also one of Xavier's original students, he had known Jean from when she first walked into the mansion. He had to admit that he had some feelings towards her too but he wasn't letting them cloud his judgement.

With much haste the two X-Men exited the jet and began to follow Forge's path. Where he had been slow and careful they were quick and somewhat sloppy. This time stealth wasn't the objective but getting to their destination as quickly as possible. From where they were they couldn't see where Forge had fallen. The mysterious mansion wasn't too far away from their position and it seemed to be easy pickings. But all that changed in the blink of an eye.

One by one turret guns began to pop up from the ground and seemingly surrounded the two X-Men. It only took a couple of seconds before they began to fire at the pair. Beast used his acrobatic abilities to dodge the bullets but he couldn't keep it up forever. Since he was moving erratically the turrets were having problems tracking him and they fired in all directions in an attempt to hit their target.

Cyclops did not possess the same acrobatic talents as his teammate but instead he fired his optic rays towards the turrets. He had dived to the ground as soon as he heard the bullets fired and he began to blast the turrets. One by one the turrets were being destroyed by a combination of Cyclops and Beast using his superhuman strength to pull them out of the ground.

There had been around a dozen turrets and in less than a minute all were destroyed. To the X-Men it had been like a training session in the Danger Room. However this time instead of having paint balls fired at them they had real bullets. Unfortunately one had grazed Beast's shoulder and he bled a little. But it was nothing that would concern him, it was something that a little first aid could clear up.

"Are you alright Beast?" asked Cyclops.

"It is merely a flesh wound," replied Beast. He rubbed the wound a little which caused him a small amount of pain. "I've suffered much worse."

"Strange how those defences seemed a little too easy. I admit that without our training we would have surely died but still I expected more."

"Maybe it wasn't supposed to kill us. Maybe…"

The two X-Men realised what had happened. They raced towards where Forge had been last located before the EMP wave had struck the X-Jet. Instead of finding their teammate all they found was a patch on the ground where someone had fallen. There were a couple of footprints by it and a drag mark.

"He's been taken," said Cyclops. "While we dealt with the defences someone came and took him right under our noses." He shouted a grunt of annoyance. "First Jean and the others, now Forge is gone, we need to find them before anything else happens to them."

"I concur Cyclops," replied Beast. He then pointed towards the mysterious mansion. "And I think we'll find answers there. Whoever is there seems to be expected us which is quite disconcerting."

"Stay frosty, the last thing we need is for us to lose each other. If that happens Jean and the others are as good as dead."

Cyclops was now more determined than ever to reach the mansion and find out where the other X-Men had been taken to. He cared deeply for his friends but it was Jean above all he wanted to rescue. But as time went by the chances of finding them seemed to be depleting with every passing moment.

Meanwhile Forge was waking up and the world around him was blurry. But as the seconds went by his vision began to return and all he could see was a bright light. It was so bright that it blinded him, he couldn't see anything around him but he was still very groggy. He tried to move his arms and he discovered that they were strapped down onto a wall and the same was true about his feet. Try as he might he could not break free of the restraints. He didn't seem to see the blond man walk over to him. He began to slap Forge's face in an attempt to make him more alert.

"Come on Sarge," said the Blond Hair man as he slapped Forge on the cheeks. "Wakey, wakey rise and shine, we don't want you to miss all the fun now do we."

"W-what?" replied Forge in confusion. He had no idea where he was but the voice of the blond man seemed to be eerily familiar to him.

Eventually the bright light was switched off and Forge could see exactly where he was. He seemed to be in a windowless room with a low ceiling. The walls were white and there didn't seem to be anything attached to them. He saw a couple of chairs, a table and a door which was the only way in or out of the room. There were several monitors on the wall that were showing everything that was being filmed by a series of CCTV cameras. He saw a couple of men standing on the far side of the room. But he looked in horror at the blond haired man who been slapping him. He was smiling at Forge with an evil grin.

"Remember me Sarge?" asked the blond man.

"C-Craig," spluttered Forge not yet comprehending what he was seeing. "Craig Hollis?" It was a name he thought that he would never utter again.

"I'm glad you still remember me Sarge." He then laughed in Forge's face. "I see the years haven't dulled your memory."

"But you're…"

"Dead! Well to tell you the truth I feel really alive for a dead person." He laughed once again. "I've waited fifteen years to see you again but you seemed to be a little tied up right now."

As Craig continued to laugh at him Forge's mind was flashing back to April nineteen sixty eight at the height of the conflict in Vietnam. At the time Forge didn't know what a mutant was and he was just a soldier fighting in the country. He had been there for six months and had recently been promoted the Sargent after an act of bravery in the field. Back then he had not suffered the injuries that caused the loss of his right arm and leg.

Like many of the soldiers in Vietnam at first it had seemed to be one big vacation but as time went on the war was eating him inside. Almost every day he had been under enemy fire and seen dozens of fellow soldiers killed or maimed. His tour wasn't over for another six months and still had a few missions to complete for the U.S army. Many of these missions were simple search and destroy missions attempting to deplete the Vietcong's resources and smoking out sympathisers. But it was extremely difficult since a Vietcong solider looked almost identical to that of a Vietnamese civilian where the American soldiers in their uniforms stuck out like a sore thumb. It didn't seem how many Vietcong of North Vietnamese Army soldiers they killed it always seemed that there were more waiting to take the place of their fallen comrades.

Forge and an additional three soldiers were flying over the South Vietnamese jungle around fifty miles north of the capitol Saigon. The ground was thick with jungle and it was almost impossible to see the earth below. But slowly the helicopter came upon a piece of land that was suitable for it to land. Forge was always nervous before going out on a mission since he would never know whether it was his last.

The three soldiers who were to accompany him had only recently begun their tour of duty. A short stocky man named Ned Bolton was the group's medic, he had been on a couple of missions and so far had gotten through them uninjured. The next soldier was the in charge of the radio communications between the group and H.Q, his name was John Fischer an African American who had been drafted into the war. The third and final soldier accompanying Forge was Craig Hollis, he was extremely intelligent but forced into the army by a military father. He didn't like the fact that he was even in the war and this was also his first mission since he arrived in the country.

As the helicopter slowly landed the group prepared to go into a warzone. They had all been trained to deal with guerrilla warfare but there were some things that no amount of training could prepare a person for. They didn't know where the enemy was hiding or exactly how many there were. All they could do was rely on their skills and complete their mission.

Forge was the first to exit the helicopter and the other soldiers in his group followed suit, almost as soon as all four men exited the helicopter it began to rise up into the air and fly away. Pilots were very nervous when flying over territory with Vietcong activity since many were shot down.

All around the group was thick jungle so dense it was impossible to see more than fifty feet in front. They could hear a few bird songs but nothing that sounded human, there were other animals in this jungle to keep an eye out for since they were a danger to any military personnel. A few reports of soldiers being attacked by tigers had been leaking through but nothing like that from the local area.

"Ok team this is a simple search and destroy mission," said Forge looking back at his fellow soldiers. "The objective is to flush out any Vietcong forces from the area and destroy any strongholds or weapon caches we find. We do this quickly and quietly and then we can return to H.Q."

The mission was going to take at least a day to complete. There was a large area to search and the density of the jungle would only make their progress slower. They also knew that the Vietcong used a tunnel system to get from one place to the other without being seen by US soldiers.

Each man was armed with a rifle, handgun and a small knife. Forge also had a large machete so that he could clear a path through the jungle. They also possessed around a dozen grenades between them so that they could destroy weapon caches. As a last resort Forge could order in an air strike where an aircraft would drop several canisters of napalm to destroy any enemy forces.

As the group entered the jungle Forge noticed some tracks on the ground. At first he could only see tracks of jungle creatures but after a good search he began find shoeprints in the mud. The shoeprints did not belong to anyone who wore the boots supplied by the US military. These tracks didn't seem to have much tread to them and were typically used by Vietcong soldiers. The tracks were also fresh so whoever had left them had not gone very far but in the jungle there were countless places a soldier could hide. There could be one ten feet in front of him and he would not be able to see him.

The group made slow progress through the jungle and they were constantly on the lookout for the Vietcong soldiers. Every time they heard a branch move they would instantly prepare themselves for an imminent attack. Each time it was just the wind or a bird in the trees but they could not let their guard down for even a moment. That one moment of carelessness could be the difference between life and death.

"Come on out Charlie!" shouted Ned in a vain attempt to flush out the enemy. This instantly drew out an angry reaction from Forge. He turned around sharply and glared at his careless teammate.

"What the hell are you doing Bolton?" snapped Forge. "Do you want the VC to know we're here? Keep that up and we'll be sent home in body bags."

"Charlie has to come out at some point Sarge." His voice was back down to a normal volume. "They may have us outnumbered…" He then cocked his rifle. "But we have the outgunned." Ned began to laugh but this only seemed to make Forge's rage increase.

"We should have left you at H.Q at least there we'd be spared your stupidity."

As the light began to fade the jungle was descending into darkness. Soon it would be too dark to continue the search and it was unwise to use any lights since it would attract the enemy soldiers. Instead the group stayed in a small section of the jungle where it was easy to see anyone or anything coming. They would try and sleep but one member of the group would stay awake and be on lookout in case there was an attempted ambush. The shifts would change once every couple of hours so that everyone would have an equal amount of time to sleep.

After several hours it was John's turn to keep watch and by now it was the middle of the night. It was also a full moon so there was some moonlight that kept the jungle somewhat bright. It also made it easier to spot any kind of ambush. The watch was incredibly boring and he was close to falling asleep on his shift.

Suddenly John noticed a bush move close to where the group was sleeping. He quietly stood up and brought his gun up so that he could aim it properly. He crept towards the bush which by now had stopped moving. His heart was racing as he walked closer and closer. He dared not make a sound in case it was a Vietcong soldier hiding in the bush. He took a quick glance back at the group who were still sound asleep on the ground.

After what seemed like a lifetime John eventually approached the bush. He could not see anything strange about it at first but as he slowly moved some of the leaves he could see something behind it. Before he could comprehend what it was it jumped out of the bush and slammed right into John. He cried out in panic and this instantly woke up the group who thought that they were under attack. All of them had armed themselves and were prepared to fire when they saw what the cause of the commotion was.

At first it had seemed to be an ambush but as Forge watched a wild boar run away into the night and John on the ground he realised what had happened. John was uninjured in the confrontation but he was shook up. He slowly got back up to his feet and Forge approached him with a concerned look on his face.

"You alright soldier?" asked Forge.

"S-something attacked me," replied John. Sweat was running down his forehead and dropping off his nose. "It took me down like I was a sack of meat, damn thing caught me off guard." By now he was back onto his feet but the experience had still made him stagger. "Tell me you killed that VC scum."

"It was a pig Fischer, if it had of been Charlie you would have been killed immediately." He then began to walk back to where he had been sleeping. "It'll be dawn in a few hours and it's still your shift."

The rest of the night went without incident and come morning there was a bright sun that would blind a man if he were not careful. The light also made it easier for the group to continue tracking the Vietcong soldiers. Forge had discovered a few tracks but from the size and shape of them he could tell that there were more than a couple of Vietcong soldiers in the area. The only problem was that they had yet to find any of them. Frustration was something that the group was feeling throughout the mission. There was also a sense of dread since they wouldn't know when the enemy would strike.

While Forge was continuously searching for fresh tracks he came across something that every US solider dreaded. He was only a few inches away from a trip wire that had been hidden under a pile of leaves. If it were triggered it would sent off a Vietcong booby trap that would certainly spell his doom. But one thing Forge did possess was a small pair of wire cutters that fit into his pocket. The others kept their distance as Forge attempted to cut the wire. If he made the wrong move the trap would have been set off and the group would most likely be a man short.

As the moments ticked by Forge's discipline and patients proved to be his saving grace. He carefully cut the wire and much to everyone's relief the trap did not go off. He somewhat wondered which trap the Vietcong had set but he had no intention in finding out.

Unseen by Forge and the other soldiers a fake rock was lifted from beneath the ground. After it was placed to one side a Vietcong soldier's head popped out of the ground and he could hear the US soldiers who were only a few metres. He slowly climbed out of the hole and got himself into a better position to see the US soldiers. He was deadly silent and practically invisible under the jungle brush. Within moments he could see the US soldiers who seemed to be trekking away, he had noticed that the trap he had laid had been disarmed successfully.

The soldier silently looked down the hole and made a series of signals with his hands. Moments later more soldiers began to climb out of the hole. They were all crouching so that they couldn't be seen by their enemies. Each was armed with rifles they had stolen from fallen US soldiers and within minutes there were a dozen soldiers all camouflaged with twigs and leaves.

Each Vietcong soldier moved towards where the US soldiers were but they all didn't go in the same direction. It seemed like they were trying to encircle them in an attempt to flank their enemy. The Vietcong had the US soldiers outnumbered three to one and the odds were in their favour. So far the US soldiers were completely unaware of their present and they planned to use the element of surprise for a quick and sudden victory.

After a few moments Ned began to hear a crack which at first he thought was his imagination but as he listened he heard more noises that made him feel extremely nervous. He could not see any Vietcong but he was almost certain he could hear them. Before he could alert the others he saw what seemed to be a metal oval shaped object hit the ground not too far from where he was standing. He saw that the top of it had some kind of handle and it only took him moments to realise what it was.

"GRENADE!" shouted Ned at the top of his lungs.

This instantly caught the attentions of the other members of the group and almost simultaneously each man dived to the ground and within less than a second the grenade exploded sending shrapnel flying in every direction. Most of the shrapnel did not hit its target but there were a couple that hit home, Craig had been hit in the arm and it would be difficult for him to defend himself. Also since he had been close to the explosion all he could hear was a ringing noise and nothing else.

Almost immediately after the explosion shots were being fired at the group from all around them. Only now did they realise exactly what was happening but their position seemed almost hopeless. They were completely surrounded and if they didn't come up with something quick they would all be killed in less than a minute.

John took a grenade off his belt and pulled out the pin, he then threw it into the brush where he could see a Vietcong soldier firing at him. Sadly just after he threw the grenade a bullet went right through his temple and a couple of seconds later the brave soldier was dead. There was no time however to mourn his passing, the remaining members of the group were still fighting for their lives.

A barrage of stray bullets struck Forge in his right arm and leg and he fell to the ground in a heap. The pain he was feeling was unimaginable but he saw that the grenade that John had thrown had exploded killing a couple of the Vietcong soldiers. But he still had no idea how many there were left in jungle around them. The gunshots seemed to continue without any signs of stopping.

Another bullet struck Craig in the chest and he too fell to the ground but unlike John he was still alive. He was bleeding heavily but he was alive, tears were in the eyes as he put his hand over his wound. A few moments he took a look at his hand and saw that it was covered with blood, his skin turned a ghostly white as he realised that this was his end.

Forge was still trying to defend himself but with his arm and leg in such a state this would be extremely difficult. There were still at least ten Vietcong soldiers firing at them from all sides and their situation looked hopeless. It was only a matter of time before he and the rest of his squadron were also killed.

A couple of his bullets were hitting their targets but instead of kill shots they were only hitting non-vital parts of the Vietcong soldiers. It wasn't enough to kill them but it certainly gave the surviving US soldiers a chance to escape.

The only way out of this ambush was through the path that they had created while going through the jungle. For now it seemed that Ned was the only US soldier who was uninjured but he was still dazed after the grenade explosion. But after the US soldiers had struck back at least half a dozen Vietcong soldiers were either killed or incapacitated. But the US soldiers were still outnumbered and seemingly hopeless.

There was one weapon that Forge did have that could save them. It would take too long to call in an airstrike and since his squad was in the firing line they too would be hit by the napalm and killed. The only weapon that could possible save them was a flash bang grenade he had made while still at H.Q. It was more powerful than any other flash bang the military had to offer. Without hesitation he threw it onto the ground a few metres from where he had fallen.

"CLOSE YOUR EYES!" shouted Forge moments before the flash bang detonated.

His surviving comrades had just enough time to close their eyes before the immediate area suddenly lit up with a bright and yet terrifying light. The light was so bright that it would blind anyone who looked upon it. There was also a small generation of heat after the flash bang exploded that would burn anyone who was too close.

The bright light eventually subsided but all the Vietcong soldiers had been blinded by the light and many were rubbing their eyes and cursing in their native language. The blindness would subside eventually but that gave the remaining US soldiers a decent amount of time to escape.

Ned came to Forge's aid who was still on the ground where he had fallen. He took him under his arm and helped him back up to his feet. They both began to stagger out of the warzone not knowing how long it would take for the Vietcong to recover. They both thought that Craig had been killed so they left him where he was lying. But Craig was still alive and could see Forge and Ned fleeing and he stretched his blood soaked hand and tried to get their attention.

"No don't leave me," squeaked Craig but his voice was so weak that there was no possibility that he could be heard amongst the confusion. "Please come back." But as the Vietcong recovered from the flash bang they surrounded him. A few were wounded after the skirmish but each man looked at him with disgust. "Mercy."

As Forge and Ned fled the next thing he heard was a single gunshot. He could only imagine what had happened but most of his thoughts were directed back to the pain in his right arm and leg. His wounds were severe and if he did not receive medical attention very soon he could succumb to his injuries.

Forge's mind reverted back to the present day and he was still strapped down to the wall with his former comrade Craig Hollis standing in front of him. He was still grinning at Forge who by now was still in shock with the man in front of him. He thought that the Vietcong would have surely killed him if they had captured him but he thought that the wound that he had suffered would have been fatal. This was not the case however since Craig was standing right in front of him. The mere thought of Craig standing in front of him sent and horrifying chill down Forge's spine.

"H-how did you…"

"Survive?" interrupted Craig. He moved in closer so that he was right in Forge's face. "Well I wasn't sure at first after you and Ned abandoned me the Vietcong shot me right through the eye and for all intents and purposes I was dead. No sooner did the world around me grow dark and grim I woke up completely healed. At first I thought it was a God damn miracle but those VC were still there and they shot me again. But once again I somehow came back to life so instead of shooting me again they took me hostage."

"My God."

"When they took me into those dark unforgiving tunnels they kept me prisoner and they liked to torture me and ask me questions about the US's activities in the area. When they got all the answers they could out of me they killed me again. This time they didn't want a bullet to end me after what had happened. Instead they chopped off my head." He then paused for a moment. "MY )&*^ING HEAD! And no sooner had my head left my shoulders it grew back as if nothing had happened. After that things changed, those VC scum actually thought I was a god and for a time I thought so too."

"How the hell did you survive all that?"

"After some time I discovered that I was a mutant just like you and your merry little friends. But unlike you my powers didn't make me all that useful in a fight but I am literally immortal. I will live until everything on Earth turns to dust, I will see into the eyes of God and the ultimate secrets of the universe will be revealed to me." He then took a few steps back. "But that is not going to be for a while. After some time I eventually returned to the States and was so surprised when I saw my old Sarge on the TV with the X-Men. I admit that I thought it was fitting that you lost your arm and a leg but that wasn't enough. You left me to die in the jungle and only taking your life will ever make up for it."

"You're a few cards short of a full deck Craig. You should know that I won't die without a good fight."

"Oh I know and I know that if I just attempted to kill you straight away after my return those friends of yours would make things difficult. So I had to make sure that they were out of the picture. That's when I came across a guy named Arcade."

"Arcade?" Forge paused for a moment. "You mean that nut-job with that theme park of death?"

"The very same. After I returned to the States I went into stockbroking, my father never understood my talents for the stock market and in almost no time at all I was a very wealthy man. But no matter how much money I made I never forgot about you and the X-Men. When I knew the time was right I approached Arcade and paid him a small fortune for him to destroy your team mates. Unfortunately he only had the resources to assassinate four of your friends so I picked the four I thought had the most potential in ruining our little reunion. The ones I left behind shouldn't be too much of a risk and I've already taken precautions."

"You set everything up. The energy signatures, the tracks and the blood that was all just to get me here."

"Oh yes I had a friend of mine kidnap a couple of your friends and leave a bread trail which would lead you right here. And now we're going to have some fun."

Meanwhile above ground Forge's remaining teammates Cyclops and Beast were cautiously approaching the mansion's main entrance. So far no more turrets or other security systems had been triggered and the short walk had gone almost without a hitch. They knew that danger lurked around the corner so they were constantly on their guard in case anything else were to happen. They eventually reached what seemed to be the main entrance to the mansion but simply opening the door and entering wasn't the safest course of action, there was most likely a trap behind the door.

"Step back Beast," said Cyclops as he stepped forward towards the door he made sure that there was a good distance between him and the door. He then pressed a button on the side of his visor and the ruby quartz lenses covering his eye opened slightly and a large optic beam shot from his eyes and struck the door. The beam was so powerful that the door was destroyed almost immediately. The ruby quartz lenses then lowered back to their original position once again blocking Cyclops's optic beams.

"It never ceases to amaze me just how much power and destruction you weald behind your lenses," admired Beast. He was also surprised to see that no security systems had been triggered, this gave him both a sense of relief and dread. If there wasn't anything here it meant that there could very likely be another more terrifying one somewhere inside. Since they lacked the element of surprise it meant that their enemy would be waiting for them. "Odd how we have not ran into anymore resistance on the way here. The thought is quite disconcerting."

"Maybe they're not here. They might have teleported Forge away like they did with Logan and Bobby."

"I doubt it, when they were taken there were scorch marks on the ground where they had been taken. When we went to where Forge was taken there were no scorch marks meaning that whoever took him could not have gone far and since this is the logical explanation to where they could have gone."

Cyclops could see sense in what Beast was telling him. This mansion was the most likely place Forge could have been taken to and he hoped that Jean and the other X-Men were also present. Every moment he was away from her was sending a knife through his heart and it was close to breaking.

As the two X-Men slowly walked through the shattered door and into what seemed to be the mansion's hallway. There they could see that it was filled with furniture and other expensive items, it seemed to be fit for anyone to live in but they could not see anyone in sight at all. There was also no sign of anyone actually living here. This did not make the pair feel any better and they slowly walked further and further into the mansion.

It looked similar to the mansion that Xavier owned but there were many important differences. The colour scheme was completely different and the mansion was eerily silent. They were listening for anything that could bring them closer to finding their missing teammates. Occasionally they could hear a humming noise but it didn't seem to be too significant.

As they walked through the mansion searching each room they could not find any sign of anyone, but they were being watched by a series of nearly impossible to see CCTV cameras. They were relaying everything that was happening right down to the monitors in the room where Forge was being kept hostage. One of Craig's subordinates was watching the screens and he did not like what he was seeing.

Craig himself was just about to start the torture process he had prepared for Forge until his subordinate signalled him to come over to the monitors. He wasn't happy with the fact that he had been distracted but he could wait a couple of minutes to exact his revenge.

"What is it Dominic?" asked Craig. "I'm a very busy man."

"The X-Men are inside the mansion," replied Dominic pointing to one of the monitors. "It is only a matter of time before they find us here."

"Why my dear Dominic that is the most fun part." He chuckled a little. "And this is why I like to have insurance." He then patted Dominic on the shoulder. "This is the exact reason why I hired you and Mr Carosella." He paused for a moment while he contemplated his next move. "Deal with them but keep the damage to the mansion at a minimal since I've only just finished paying for this place."

Dominic nodded his head and signalled to the other man that it was time to leave. The other man was very tall, extremely muscular and was almost bald save for few long strands of white hair on the top of his forehead. He also wore glasses since he was near sighted. He had only recently been employed by Craig Hollis and he thought that this would be easy money but he had no idea what his boss had planned.

This man was in deed Mr Carosella that Craig had mentioned although he preferred to go by his Christian name of Guido. After Dominic had given him the signal he slowly opened the door revealing a set of steps that led up to what seemed to be the mansion. Their instructions were plain and simple but achieving them would be something else entirely.

On the mansion's ground floor Cyclops and Beast seemed to be no closer to finding where the other X-Men were or who was responsible. They never saw a secret door open near the hallway and both Guido and Dominic walked through the door. For now Cyclops and Beast did not know that they were even there but that would soon change in a matter of seconds.

"Show time Guido," said Dominic quietly rubbing his hands. He then looked up towards the large staircase a couple of metres from where he was standing. "HEY X-MEN!"

Dominic had shouted so loud that it would be impossible for Cyclops and Beast to miss it. As planned they immediately investigated what they had heard and they only took a few moments to travel back to the hallway where they saw Dominic and Guido waiting for them. Guido had a smile on his face and his arms crossed. He had heard about the X-Men but he thought that he was easily strong enough to deal with them.

"You been looking for us X-Men?" asked Guido. "Well here we are."

Almost instantly Guido was blasted by an optic beam from Cyclops and it was powerful enough to make him fly through the front door and out onto the mansion's grounds. But instead of being injured by the blast Guido felt stronger than he had before and for now seemed not to feel any pain. He quickly got back up to his feet and brushed the dirt that had gotten onto his white shirt.

Dominic ran outside to where Guido had fallen but this was not due to fear. Craig had specifically instructed them not to damage the mansion so it was sensible to fight outside since fighting inside would cause a lot of damage.

Cyclops's rage and frustration had gotten the better of him and he had blasted Guido without thinking. If he had been a normal person he could have seriously injured but Cyclops had not known that when he fired at him. The only thing on his mind was finding Jean and the others safe and well.

After what had happened Beast had to put his hand on Cyclops's shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. But his frustration was evident as he was breathing in and out deeply and his visor was still glowing.

"Calm yourself Cyclops," said Beast. "You'll do us no good if you kill the only lead we have to our missing teammates."

"The time for calmness has past Beast," replied Cyclops. He walked forward away from Beast's grasp and he walked outside and he could see Guido and Dominic standing there waiting for him. The smirk on Guido's face only seemed to make Cyclops's rage increase.

"WHERE IS JEAN?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," laughed Guido slamming his fist into the palm of his hand. He then looked at Dominic who was standing right next to him. "I think he wants you to rock his world."

With a smirk Dominic held out his hands and within seconds the ground itself began to shake violently. At first Cyclops and Beast thought that it was an earthquake but earthquakes weren't common or powerful on the east coast. As the magnitude increased they soon realised that Dominic was the one who was causing the unnatural earthquake. Like them he was a mutant with the ability generate earthquakes so powerful that it would defy anything on the Richter scale.

The ground suddenly opened up and a jagged rock broke out of the ground right in front of where Cyclops was standing. For a moment he had been caught off guard but he recovered within moments and resorted to blasting the chunk of rock with his optic beams. He failed to see that another jagged rock was coming up right underneath his feet. But the time he realised the rock shot up through the ground sending him flying into the air. He flew twenty feet in the air and if he hit the ground he would most likely survive but most likely receive horrific injuries.

Luck was on Cyclops's side since Beast with his strength and agility jumped into the air and caught Cyclops before he hit the ground. Beast landed safely on his feet but due to Dominic he could not stay on his feet.

"Thanks Beast," said Cyclops.

"Twas nothing friend," replied Beast.

The earthquake was gaining more power and ferocity with every passing second. Since Cyclops could not aim properly while the ground shook he could not blast Dominic with his optic blasts. It seemed that Dominic and Guido were too powerful for the pair to handle, their defeat was practically imminent.

Meanwhile down in the mansion's basement Forge was screaming in agony, Craig had sliced his left arm with a knife and it was starting to bleed. He had been looking forward to this moment for several years and he was savouring every moment of it. Although the earthquake was making things more difficult for him the fact that Forge was in agony gave him great joy. He had a lot more planned for the X-Man but he didn't know which one to go for.

"Are you having fun Sarge?" asked Craig with glee. "We have so many hours of fun before you finally croak it."

"I-I'm sorry," stuttered Forge weakly.

"What was that?" Craig then moved his head right next to Forge's, there was only about an inch between their faces. "I didn't quite that."

"For breaking your nose."

"You're cracking already. Or is the pain messing with your memory, you never broke my nose."

Suddenly Forge forced his head forward and he head-butted Craig in the face. Craig staggered back in shock and placed his hands over his nose. Blood was seeping through his fingers and dripping onto the floor. The shock had left Craig speechless for the moment as his nose continued to bleed.

"Y-you broke my nose," said Craig in shock. "I'LL &^$*ING KILL YOU FOR THAT!"

"You were going to kill me anyway," replied Forge. "But now at least I improved your looks."

This only further infuriated an already angry Craig, with every drop of blood he lost his hatred of Forge increased drastically. A part of him wanted to kill him there and then but he had waited too long to end it quickly. He wanted to have his fun and watch Forge suffer as he had in Vietnam. But instead of the simple stabbing of the arm he wanted to move onto another form of torture.

"You think you're clever don't you Sarge?" said Craig even though his voice sounded different since his nose was broken. "Well let's see how clever you are when I pump electricity through your body, I bet you'll get a real shock." He was beginning to get annoyed with how his voice sounded, he had always liked the sound of his own voice and he hated it if anything were to alter it. "Hold on a moment." He pulled out a small handgun and Forge thought that he was about to get shot. Instead Craig brought the gun up to the side of his own head and pulled the trigger without hesitation. No sooner had the trigger been pulled he fell to the ground seemingly dead. Seconds later his eyes opened wide and he slowly got back to his feet, the bullet wound was gone and his nose had also healed. "Test, test, one, two, three." His voice was now back to how it was before his injury. "Much better now where did I put that battery?"

Forge was amazed with what he had seen, Craig had successfully committed suicide but only moments later had risen completely healed. If the wrong type of person had seen this they would think that Craig was some kind of God or a messiah The thought made him extremely uneasy, he had somewhat doubted that Craig's tales of immortality was just a lie to keep him off his toes but to actually see it happen was something else entirely.

Much to Craig's annoyance the battle above ground was making it difficult to torture Forge. He could also hear a couple of things breaking and smashing upstairs in the mansion. He looked up to the ceiling and he could see some dust falling towards the ground. The CCTV monitors were close to falling down and the basement was swinging widely making the bulb flash violently.

"God Damn It I told them not to damage the mansion!" shouted Craig with much anger in his voice. He tried to cover his eyes from the flashing light. "That light's gonna give me a migraine."

He was so concerned with the earthquake he didn't notice that the restraint holding Forge's right arm was coming loose. The earthquake had shaken it out of its fittings and he felt that it was loose, he tried to pull on it but for now it was still too tight but it wouldn't be long until he could free his arm. For now he had to keep Craig distracted until the restraint was weak enough for him to break free.

"Are you actually gonna do it or am I gonna die from boredom?" taunted Forge. "You're all words and no action Hollis, you always have been and you always will be."

"Oh you'll regret those words Sarge," replied Craig taking the bait. "When I'm done with you even your cold dead mother won't be able to recognise you."

Craig moved over to the other side of the room where there was a car battery and pair of jumper cables waiting for him on the floor. Each step he took had been with difficulty since the ground was continually shaking violently. It was a strange experience but he wouldn't let him deter him from his goal. Only Forge's spirit breaking would make him happy at this point in his life and as long as he could he would go to any lengths to make sure that it happened.

Everything in the mansion continued to shake as Dominic used his powers to defeat the other X-Men. He had no idea that he was actually helping Forge's escape plan. It only took a few more moments for Forge to finally break the weakened restraint around his right arm. He didn't want Craig to know straight away since he most likely had another plan to restrain him and he also didn't have full movement in his left arm and leg just yet.

Eventually Craig had picked up the car battery that he had found on the other side of the room. He laughed in excitement as the thought of electrocuting Forge was about to become reality. He walked slowly forwards although the earthquake was making him uneasy on his feet. He had only recently bought the battery so he knew that there was more than enough juice to cause Forge serious harm.

"You won't believe how long I've looked forward to this Sarge," said Craig with a huge grin on his face. "I'm finally going to make you suffer just like I did. I do have to admit that although those Vietcong bastards were annoying they were extremely good torturers. Over the next few days I'll show you every single last one of their techniques. I assure you the experience will be extremely painful but hey rather you than me."

Forge was still biding his time waiting for the right moment. It was only when he felt his fingers twitch in his left hand he knew that he was ready. He waited until Craig was close enough to him and that he was completely oblivious to Forge's position. Craig had attached the cables to the battery and was about to rip off the top of Forge's costume so that he could get to his nipples.

Only when he was a couple of inches from his victim, Forge broke the weak restraint around his right arm and punched Craig square in the face. This caused Craig to stagger back and drop the jumper cables. Now that his hand was free Forge released his left arm from the restraint followed by both of his legs. They had all been weakened by the continual earthquake so it only took him a couple of moments to release himself. The EMP wave that had malfunctioned his arm and leg had now fully subsided so he had full movement in both robotic limbs.

Craig was horrified with what had just happened and he could see that Forge was free from his restraints. Craig had not expected this to happen and he was beginning to panic. He was trying to think of a way to defeat Forge but for the moment he couldn't think of anything. That's when he knew that he was in big trouble.

"What the hell?" asked Craig.

"I forgot to tell you Craig," replied Forge. He then ran up to Craig and punched once again in the face but this time it was with his right arm. Since that arm was metal and not flesh and bone it did a lot more damage and it caused Craig to fall to the ground. "You talk too much."

Craig tried to crawl away from Forge but he was moving extremely slowly and it took minimal effort for Forge to follow him. He eventually attempted to pull his handgun from its holster but Forge kicked it out of his hand and then stomped on the wrist breaking it immediately. Craig cried out in pain as he felt the bones in his wrists crack and shatter and it caused him to shed a few tears.

"No I won't let you win!" shouted Craig holding his broken wrist. "I will never let you win and you can never beat me. I am immortal, no matter what you do or try I will always come back and I won't stop until you are dead."

"Then you will be trying for a very long time," replied Forge.

Forge stomped his foot onto Craig's face with such force that it knocked out a few of his teeth. Craig lay motionless on the ground but he was still breathing, he wasn't dead but merely unconscious. Forge had made sure that he wasn't dead since he would just spring back to life in moments completely healed.

Now that he was free Forge wanted to help his fellow X-Men but first he still needed to find his weapons. They had been taken away when he had been kidnapped by Craig and his henchmen but it wouldn't be long for him to find him. He thought that Craig would use them to inflict harm on him in a twisted attempt at irony. They were most likely somewhere down in this basement but since the ground was still shaking it still made it hard to move around.

Back on the mansion grounds the fight continued between the X-Men and Craig's henchmen. It seemed to be a difficult fight for the X-Men since whenever Guido was struck by one of Cyclops's optic blasts he would absorb it and grow stronger. If it continued at this manner he would soon be even stronger than the Incredible Hulk. Dominic was constantly using his powers to create powerful earthquakes that shook the earth.

"There has to be a way of beating these guys," said Cyclops. He was blasting jagged pieces of rocks that were sprouting up from the ground.

"I have an idea," replied Beast. He had to jump out of the way as Guido ran at him and slammed his fists onto the ground. "I need you to blast this Strong Guy."

"Are you crazy? It'll only make him stronger."

"Trust me Cyclops."

As he was told Cyclops blasted Guido and once again he began to grow stronger once more. Guido began to laugh as he felt his muscles grow. He thought that the X-Men were being either extremely clever or extremely stupid.

"Don't you X-Men learn anything?" asked Guido as he continued to absorb Cyclops's optic blasts. "The more energy you hit me with the stronger I get."

"That's the idea," replied Beast.

As Guido's muscles grew he discovered that he could no longer move his arms. The energy was also causing him a lot of pain and he fell to the ground clutching his head and screaming out in pain. Cyclops wanted to stop but he knew that this was the only way he could defeat Guido.

"Stop please no more!" shouted Guido as he rolled around in agony. "Have mercy I was only following orders."

Suddenly the ground around Guido rose up sending him into the air. Dominic was responsible for this since he was saving Guido from any further harm. By now Cyclops had stopped firing his optic blasts and Dominic had stopped the ground from shaking. Guido still couldn't move and all the energy stored within his body was making every moment more agonising than the last. He seemed to be incapacitated for now but Dominic was still left and he was a very powerful mutant.

Unlike Guido, Dominic only had the same strength and durability as any normal person. A well placed shot from Cyclops's optic blast would take him down in an instant. But making the shot would be extremely difficult. Whenever he went to blast him Dominic would use his powers to shield himself with jagged rocks pushed up from the ground. They were strong enough to shield him from any harm.

But as Cyclops continued to blast at Dominic Beast was creeping around behind him. Since Dominic could not see through the boulders he could not see Beast coming it was the perfect time for an ambush. By now Dominic had completely surrounded himself with walls of rock ten feet high. They were still strong enough to stop Cyclops's optic blasts from punching through but the walls were not high enough to stop Beast from jumping over them, to him it would be as easy as solving a complex mathematical problem.

"I need to time this just right," thought Beast. "If he sees me coming I may be as good as dead."

Using all his might Beast leaped into the air and landed right on the top of the wall and he landed so quietly that he didn't make a sound. Inside the walls he could see Dominic once again creating an earthquake in an attempt to defeat the X-Men, he could also hear Guido screaming out in pain after absorbing too much of Cyclops's optic blasts. For now it seemed that Dominic was unaware of Beast's presence.

"You want some of this don't you X-Men!" shouted Dominic as he protected himself from harm. "I can keep this up all day but you'll be long dead by then! I'm too much for you to handle, I am unstoppable!"

"In that case I am immovable," replied Beast as he leaped down from the wall. He fell so fast that Dominic had no time to properly react as Beast landed right on top of him. The weight of Beast's body slammed Dominic onto the ground and within seconds he lost consciousness.

Immediately after losing consciousness the wall around Dominic shrank back into the ground and all the other jagged rocks also disappeared. Cyclops stopped firing his optic blasts and instead walked towards Beast. Although Dominic had been defeated Guido was still left even though he was more or less incapacitated, Guido was still rolling around in pain and the column that Dominic had created had receded back into the ground. Both Beast and Cyclops approached him and they could see that he was practically crying. The pain was too much for him to bear.

"H-help me," stammered Guido as he saw the two X-Men approach him. "I can't take the pain anymore." For a moment the X-Men didn't respond. "Please I'm begging you just make the pain stop." After that moment Cyclops looked over to Beast with a very concerned look on his face.

"We have to do something to help him," said Cyclops. "I know he was trying to kill us but he's in agony."

"It might not be the wisest course of action but I must admit I loathe seeing others suffer," replied Beast. He then knelt down at Guido who was still screaming out in pain. "All the energy you've absorbed you need to release it before it kills you."

"I can't," answered Guido he continued to scream from the pain. "I don't know how."

"You have to or else you'll die and there's nothing we can do to help you."

Guido continued to scream but he began to concentrate on releasing the energy he had stored up inside his grotesquely muscular body. He began to glow purple and the X-Men backed away from him. He screamed once again but this time there was a blinding pink light and what felt like an explosion.

When the glow subsided they saw Guido still lying on the ground but now he was skinny since he had lost all the energy he had absorbed. The ground around was black and charred and he seemingly looked dead. Beast slowly walked towards him and knelt down, he placed his right index and middle finger on the side of Guido's neck.

"Is he…" asked Cyclops.

"Dead no," replied Beast as he rose back to his feet. "His pulse is weak but he's definitely alive. Hopefully he shouldn't cause us any trouble in the near future."

"At least these two have been dealt with, now we find Jean and the others."

Just then Forge slowly staggered out of the main entrance of the mansion. He had picked up his missing weaponry but he still had a limp and injured arm from his torture experience. He was struggling to keep a hold of the guns he had found but most of them he strapped onto his shoulders to keep them in place. He could see Cyclops and Beast with the unconscious bodies of both Dominic and Guido. With some effort he began to walk towards his teammates and couldn't help but feel happy.

"Forge," said Beast as he walked towards Forge. "When you disappeared with we feared the worst, words cannot describe how pleased I am to see you alive."

"I'm happy to see you two as well," replied Forge. "And I've found out where the other X-Men are being held."

"You do?" asked Cyclops after hearing the news he had been waiting all day to hear. "Where are they?"

"They're being held by Arcade most likely they're in Murderworld."

"You know where that is?" asked Beast with some disbelief.

"Yes I had a run in with him some years before I joined the X-Men, I thought that his theme park of death had been shut down but I was obviously wrong."

"There's no time to waste," said Cyclops with anxiety in his voice. The fact that they knew where his beloved Jean was being held was almost too much for him to bear. Every second to him felt like a lifetime. "We have to go there and rescue them before they're killed."

"I somewhat doubt that, it'll take a lot more than Murderworld to the others. The Professor would be so disappointed that they were killed in such a manner."

Behind him Forge didn't notice that Craig had also staggered out of the mansion. He was still in great pain after the beating that Forge had dealt him but he was still extremely angry that his plans had seemingly failed. Although everything had gone wrong he still had an ace left up his sleeve and this involved a small device that he had in his hand. His mouth still had blood coming out of it from where Forge had broken his teeth and his wrist was still in sheer agony.

"You think you've won X-Men!" shouted Craig. By now the X-Men had heard him and were looking towards him with some dread. Although Cyclops and Beast didn't recognise him Forge had a hand on one of his guns. "It only ends when I say it does, I knew that Dominic and Guido would disappoint me but I thought they would at least take one of you out with them. I knew I should have hired the Von Strucker twins. But it doesn't matter because you're as good as dead."

Without hesitation Craig pressed the button on his device and for a few moments it seemed that nothing was happening. But then the X-Men saw the ground break only a few metres away and a large metallic being raised up at of seemingly nowhere. He was definitely not human but he was also someone that the X-Men had never encountered before. This machine was roughly ten feet tall and completely made out of metal. It had a humanoid appearance even though it was completely inorganic. Although they had never encountered this being before they had seen him in the news on a few occasions.

This being was known as the Super Adaptoid who was known to be a member of the Avengers' rogue gallery. It had the ability to copy practically any superpower it encountered and it could copy several superpowers at once. It was powerful enough to give the Earth's Mightiest Heroes a good run for their money on more than one occasion.

"Gentlemen I give to you the Super Adaptoid!" shouted Craig with his arms raised in the air. "It has the strength of Thor, the finesse of Captain America, the accuracy of Hawkeye and the density control of the Vision." He then began to laugh hysterically as if had gone mad. "And I'm afraid to tell you that this is your doom X-Men, I wanted to prolong your suffering but at least my revenge will be complete." He pressed another button on the handheld device. "Adaptoid bring me their heads!"

The eyes of the Adaptoid seemingly lit up as if he were activating. It took a couple of steps forward and the X-Men prepared themselves for another fight although this one may be one that they never come back from. They had fought a person in the past who could mimic powers but this time was different. This time they were facing a machine and it already had the powers of some of the mightiest heroes on the planet.

"Any ideas here will be grand," said Beast as the X-Men backed away because the Adaptoid was moving towards them.

"We hit it until in breaks," replied Cyclops with a hand on his visor. "Until this thing is destroyed we can't rescue Jean and the others."

Immediately after that Cyclops blasted the Adaptoid with his optic blasts but it did little to stop the android. Since it had the density powers of the Avengers android Vision it could alter its density so that the blasts would go through it as if it was using Shadowcat's phasing abilities. The Adaptoid didn't stop walking towards the X-Men, it wasn't even being damaged by Cyclops's optic blasts no matter how powerful the blasts were.

It seemed that nothing could stop the Adaptoid but Forge did have something that would help. One of the settings of his large gun was to fire an energy blast that could affect someone who was intangible. He had created it in case Shadowcat ever went rogue or manipulated, he had come up with solutions to take down any X-Man if need be.

He needed a moment or two to set his weapon but it didn't seem like he would have that moment since the Adaptoid was moving closer. He also noticed that the Adaptoid's eyes were beginning to glow red. Almost instantly he realised what was about to happen and he looked back towards Cyclops and Beast.

"Get down!" he shouted.

Immediately all three of the X-Men fell to the ground and no sooner did they land an optic blast identical to Cyclops's blasted out of the Adaptoid's eyes. It didn't take a genius to realise that it had copied Cyclops's powers and had added to its incredible arsenal. The battle was going to be even more difficult than it had been before.

"T-those are my powers," said Cyclops in disbelief. "How did it…"

"It copied your powers just as easily as someone could take a breath," replied Forge getting back onto his feet. He pointed his large rifle like gun at the Adaptoid. "Try this on for size big boy."

Forge fired the gun at the Adaptoid and like he expected it had lowered its density so that the energy bullet would pass right through it. But instead the bullet struck it square in the chest and an electrical pulse went right through it. For a couple of moments it was completely encased by an electrical sphere which subsided a few seconds later. At first it seemed that nothing had changed but Forge knew that there was definitely something was different, all he did was smile and tap his rifle.

"Intangibility disabled," said Forge with confidence in his voice. "Try phasing through our attacks without that big boy."

The Adaptoid didn't seem to be phased with what had happened, since it was a machine it felt no anger, no dread, no fear, no remorse. To the Adaptoid his objective was still the same and it calculated that it still had more than enough power to destroy the X-Men. It began to shift through its database for a power that was suitable for the job since the powers of the Vision had been corrupted by Forge's weapon. It took it a few cycles before it chose the power that it thought would destroy the X-Men.

Moments later the Adaptoid jumped up into the air and the X-Men watched as it gained altitude rapidly. The soon realised that it was defying the laws of gravity as it seemingly stopped in mid-air and floated. It didn't take the X-Men long to realise that it was using a stolen flight superpower. Only seconds later its fists began to glow a bright yellow. They recognised that these powers belonged to another member of the Avengers called Ms' Marvel who had allied herself with the X-Men on a couple of occasions. She was amongst one of the most powerful beings on the planet and anything that had the same powers as her would be a force to be reckoned with.

"This is really bad," said Cyclops looking up at the Adaptoid in the sky. "How can we defeat a machine that has the combined powers of the Avengers?" He thought that he would have been prepared for any kind of situation but there were also situations that no amount of training would prepare him for. Unfortunately for him this was one of situations he never thought he'd be facing, although he had faced worse enemies over his years with the X-Men but this time he didn't have his love Jean Grey at his side.

"I think I have an idea," replied Beast. "But it will take almost everything we have for there to be even the slightest chance of success. It will involve pulling out all the stops and going down a path we thought we'd never dare imagine."

"If you're talking about killing it I'm alright with that," answered Forge as he also began to think of a strategy. "It's not a living person, it's a machine so I have no problem breaking it into a million pieces."

"We need to concentrate all our attacks on one small spot. If we can crack through its almost implacable armour we can severally damage the vital insides. We cannot hold anything back since it'll destroy us without contemplating a second thought."

As the Adaptoid began to blast down at the X-Men all Craig could do was watch and laugh. Although he had not really wanted to use the Super Adaptoid it was definitely the right course of action given the circumstances. He wanted to see the X-Men completely obliterated and if there was anything left of Forge he wanted to keep it as a souvenir no matter how macabre it was. He had been waiting for years to enact his vengeance on him and he wasn't going to let an obliteration spoil his prize.

The Adaptoid was using MS Marvel's energy projection powers to blast down at the X-Men. It was relatively safe up high in the air where it would be difficult for the X-Men to reach it. The X-Men had to continuously dodge out of the way of the blasts because if a single one of them struck their target it would be destroyed immediately. MS Marvel had never used her full power energy blasts on an opponent before since she never wanted to kill anyone. The Adaptoid didn't have the same human emotions that MS Marvel had so it had no problem using the energy blasts to their maximum effect. Each blast that hit the ground created a large crater that was six feet in diameter.

Forge set his rifle to full power and began to shoot at the Adaptoid but because it had MS Marvel's flying abilities it was able to move out of the way before any of the energy bullets struck their target, but even if they did strike home they would do little damage since MS Marvel also had superhuman durability. MS Marvel had survived damages that would kill any normal person, once she had been inside a building when it collapsed all around her and she walked away without s single scratch. The Adaptoid had the same durability as she did so it could also withstand almost any attack.

"This isn't working!" shouted Cyclops. "We need to bring it back down to earth, try move Delta Alpha just like in the Danger Room."

Both Forge and Beast took Cyclops's words into account and prepared themselves for the next move. Forge again recalibrated his rifle but instead of a destructive energy bullet he set to a setting that was similar to a flash bang grenade. Since it was in energy bullet rather than a grenade it would be easier to strike the Adaptoid because he only needed to fire at it rather than throwing a grenade.

Cyclops used his optic blasts to fire directly at the Adaptoid and like they expected it flew out of the blasts path. Only a couple of milliseconds after Cyclops had fired his optic blast Forge fired his rifle and a collection of energy bolts fired out at the opposite side of where Cyclops had fired. The Adaptoid dodged out of the way of the optic blast but it flew right into the path of the energy bullets and when they impacted a bright light flashed instantly. The X-Men covered their eyes so that they weren't blinded by the light but Craig had not expected this so he was temporarily blinded by the light. He rubbed his eyes in a vain attempt to recover but for the moment he was completely blind.

The bright flash did not blind the Adaptoid however but it had succeed in disorientated its navigation systems so it began to move erratically in the air. It moved in many different directions with no warning to when it would change direction. But moments later it fell to the ground and landed in a heap. The impact of the landing caused a small amount of internal damage to the Adaptoid but it wasn't out of the fight just yet. It was taking a few moments to reboot its guidance system before once again attempting to kill the X-Men.

Beast immediately jumped into the air after the Adaptoid struck the ground and he landed straight on top of him. He knew that he only had a few seconds to deliver as much damage as he could before the Adaptoid recovered and continued its assault. Using his animal like claws Beast began to slash at the Adaptoid's chest. The Adaptoid's armour was strong but Beast was causing a small amount of damage but it wasn't entirely the damage he was focusing on. He wanted to create a large target on the Adaptoid so that his fellow X-Men had somewhere to focus all their firepower. Although his claws were not as strong as Wolverine's it was enough to for the task at hand.

"I regret this course of action," said Beast as he continued to slash the Adaptoid's chest. "I would have loved to have studied your interior circuitry and makeup. But alas the situation calls for drastic measures.

As soon as the Adaptoid recovered it took one mighty swing at Beast and knocked him down. The blow had stunned the mighty X-Man but it wasn't enough to cause any long term damage. He watched as the Adaptoid got back to its feet but it had yet to fully recover from the flash bang. Its optic systems were still working one hundred percent but the navigation system was only had sixty six percent efficiency. This would hopefully be enough for the X-Men to scrape by with a victory.

Since the Adaptoid already had strength and agility it saw no point in copying Beast's powers and because Forge's powers could only allow him to make any type of machine it would be useless in this battle. Instead it focused once again on Cyclops's powers and it fired an optic blast at where Beast was lying. In the last possible moment Beast was able to dodge out of the way or else he would have been destroyed.

Cyclops fired his own optic blasts at the Adaptoid and he aimed for where Beast had scratched the armour. It was the weakest point in Adaptoid's defences and the only place where he could truly be harmed. The Adaptoid saw the blast coming and responded with his own optic blast and both energy beams hit at the force of two colliding trains. At first both seemed equally matched but after a couple of seconds the Adaptoid's optic blasts were pushing Cyclops's back towards him. This was one fight he could not afford to lose and he realised that there was only one way he could overpower the Adaptoid and that was to go full power.

"Everyone stand back!" shouted Cyclops as he continued to fire at the Adaptoid. "I'm taking off the visor!"

"That's crazy Cyclops," replied Forge taking a few steps back. "Last time you did that the blast destroyed almost half the school."

"I don't have a choice Forge, if we lose the others will die and I'm not losing Jean, not like I lost Alex."

Forge wanted to argue back but he knew that Cyclops was right. The only way for them to defeat the Adaptoid was for Cyclops to go full power, any less and there would be an even greater chance of them all being killed. He just nodded his head and walked several paces away from Cyclops. When Forge was a safe distance Cyclops put his hands on his visor and prepared for the worse.

"You think you can hurt me and my friends!" shouted Cyclops at the Adaptoid. "When you mess with one X-Man you mess with us all! You are nothing more than an unthinking, unfeeling machine that has caused pain and destruction on an unimaginable scale, today I send you to the scrap heap!"

With that Cyclops removed his visor allowing his optic beams to flow at full power. Since there was nothing covering his eyes there was nothing to shield the naked power of Cyclops's eyes. The power in the optic beams were beyond measure and it was even rumoured to be able to damage Adamantium, a metal thought to be indestructible.

The sudden increase in power took the Adaptoid by surprise and for the first time in its existence it felt something very human. For the first time ever it felt a very small amount of fear and thus made it one of the first machines in the world to experience a human emotion although it would not have long to appreciate it.

As the seconds ticked away Cyclops's blasts were far superior to that of the Adaptoid and slowly but surely the beams were going back towards it. It tried to use all the power it had to stop Cyclops but without a visor to hold his powers back there was nothing that could stop him. With an almighty explosion the combined power of Cyclops's and the Adaptoid's optic blasts struck the huge android. There was a flash of crimson light and a deafening explosion which subsided within a few moments. Cyclops placed his visor back over his destructive eyes and it seemed that nothing could withstand such an explosion but the Adaptoid was still standing. Now however where Beast had slash its chest the armour had been completely blasted away leaving a gaping hole the size of an A four sheet of paper.

The Adaptoid staggered back as it attempted to formulate a plan of attack but it had been severally damaged and all its thought processes had been disabled, it seemed to be motionless but the X-Men didn't want to take any chances. Forge recalibrated his rifle back to the explosive setting a fired it straight at the gaping hole in the Adaptoid's armour. The Adaptoid was all but disabled so it could not move out of the way of the bullet and it struck right on target, moments later there was a large explosion in its chest and the wiring inside it began to overheat and it set off a chain reaction.

As smaller explosions appeared on the body of the Adaptoid the X-Men realised that it was going to explode at any moment and the explosion would kill them if they didn't flee immediately. They quickly ran back towards the X-Jet as fast as their legs could carry them, they could only hope they reached a safe distance before the Adaptoid exploded. One the way they noticed Dominic and Guido still unconscious on the ground and they couldn't leave the pair to their doom. Without much effort Beast was able to pick both fallen mutants and sling them over his shoulders, they didn't weigh that much and his superhuman strength made the task very easy. Craig didn't know what was happening and was still staggering around trying to regain his sight. He was cursing when he accidentally walked within the range of the incoming explosion. The mansion he owned was also within the blast radius and he was completely oblivious to what was happening but by now the X-Men had reached the X-Jet safely.

The moment before Adaptoid was set to explode Craig's vision returned and he saw that the Adaptoid was exploding from the inside. It didn't take him long to realise that his plans had failed miserable.

"Oh sh…." Said Craig.

Before he could finish his curse the Adaptoid exploded with a force that would be strong enough to destroy any building. In a fraction of a second the blast went right through Craig and he practically disintegrated and his mansion was blown apart by the explosion. Everything inside was destroyed immediately and the X-Men could only watch from a safe distance as they saw the smoke cloud rise up into the sky. They had felt the explosion but they were a safe distance so there was no damage. They stared at amazement of the destruction that had been caused.

A couple of minutes later the X-Men walked back to the where the mansion had once stood but there was absolutely nothing left. Everything within a few hundred feet had been completely obliterated and it looked like a nuclear bomb had exploded. The ground was charred and there was no evidence of anything surviving such a blast. There were some shards of metal scatter on the ground, these shards were all that was left of the mighty Adaptoid after the explosion.

Cyclops couldn't help but marvel with the sheer devastation that he was seeing. A few minutes ago this had been somewhat beautiful grounds of a mansion close to the size of Xavier's. Now there was nothing left besides rubble and scrap. It took him moments to realise that there was nothing left of Craig, in the confusion he had completely forgotten about him and it seemed that the worst had happened to him. He knew that Craig was trying to kill them but he still didn't want him dead, that wasn't the X-Men way.

"He's dead," said Cyclops with a sense of dread. "I know he wanted us dead but we still could have saved him."

"Craig's not dead," replied Forge with disgust. "Like us he's a mutant with immortality, no matter what we do we can't kill him even if we wanted to."

"That is incredible," said Beast stroking his chin. "There is an actual mutant who will live forever, the ramifications of unimaginable. If I had some time to study him I could lengthen the global life expectancy by decades maybe even centuries."

"I don't think it's worth it my friend. I don't think anyone would truly want to live forever, to see loved ones grow old and die, to see mankind wither away and finally see the earth become nothing more than a lifeless rock floating through space."

"I see your point Forge. I guess there are some things that are better left unknown, shame really the potential is limitless."

"Forge you say that you know where the others are," interrupted Cyclops. Forge responded with a slight nod of his head. "Good we're leaving here immediately, the longer we stay here the greater the chance of our team mates suffering severer injuries. How far is it to Murderworld?"

"Not far," replied Forge. "We can be there within the hour."

"Good, move out X-Men we're done here."

The X-Men walked away from the destruction and made their way back to the X-Jet. They passed the unconscious bodies of Dominic and Guido, they decided that it was best that they left them where they lie. It would take too much effort to restrain them and take them to a place where they could keep an eye on them. Since they had only worked for Craig for the money they didn't think they would trouble the X-Men in the future.

Eventually the X-Men loaded onto the jet and Forge decided that it was best he piloted the jet. All three X-Men had picked up some minor injuries during their battles but Forge felt that he could still pilot the jet. His arm was still hurting where Craig had stabbed him, he wasn't bleeding anymore but as soon as the other X-Men were rescued he would get Beast to stitch up the wound.

Meanwhile at the ruins of the mansion a large raw piece of flesh lay on the ground amongst a collection of metal shards. The flesh was pulsating as if it had a heartbeat and it began to increase in size. As the seconds went by the flesh began to take shape into a humanoid figure and when it had finally grown a head and mouth it cried out in pain. As the minutes went by his flesh had completely grown back but for the moment he looked like a flayed man, it would take a further minute and a half for his skin and hair to grow back. His clothes did not grow back with him so he was completely naked but at that moment in time he didn't care.

When Craig had fully regenerated he slowly got back up to his feet in time to watch the X-Jet fly over him. He watched in disgust as the jet flew away at supersonic speeds, his plans had failed but if there was one thing he did have was time. The X-Men might have won this time but with his wealth and immortality he knew that it wouldn't be long until he was ready to exact his revenge.

The X-Jet flew through the skies so fast that it would be impossible to detect through radar. The EMP wave that had crippled the jet had now subsided and all the systems were running at one hundred percent. Forge knew the co-ordinates to Murderworld and now it was only a matter of time before they could rescue their missing teammates. Cyclops was still anxious to get to Murderworld so that he could be reunited with his love Jean but he did feel much better now that they were actually on their way. He feared that he wouldn't survive the confrontation with the Adaptoid but the fact that they had all gotten through with only minor injuries made him happy.

The X-Men even decided to play some upbeat music so that it would calm them down, a flight in silence was always tense and the music would always make the situation a little better. Each X-Man had their own taste in music and each one was as unique as the individual. Although there had been a couple of arguments between the X-Men over certain music but it was nothing a simple compromise couldn't solve, but it just showed that the team was more than just a group of people fighting against hate and prejudice, they were like a family.

After close to an hour of flying the X-Jet flew directly over the co-ordinates Forge had imputed into the computer. The X-Men prepared for to storm Murderworld and rescue their teammates but they were pleasantly surprised when the scanners revealed that the other X-Men had already escaped and were waiting to be picked up. Their timing couldn't have been any better since the other X-Men had just defeated the Juggernaut and were lightly wounded.

The X-Jet landed a few metres from where the other X-Men were standing and Forge lowered the Jet's ramp so that they could come aboard. The sense of relief was almost overwhelming as the X-Men were finally re-united, all of them had been through a deadly experience but they had all come out with their lives intact. But this would not be the last time they would face such dangers. As long as there were mutants there would always be people who would hate and fear them for being different. A rogue mutant had struck at the nations of the world and they were preparing to strike back with a vengeance.

The End

Next Mass Production.


End file.
